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Why a Fully-Functioning Website Is Essential to Your Business’s Growth

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Why a Fully-Functioning Website Is Essential to Your Business’s Growth

In today’s digital age, websites are the backbone of your business’s presence online. In fact, a fully functioning website has the potential to increase revenue exponentially because your company is just a click away from being found online. Furthermore, for a website to be effective at reaching milestones, it makes sense then that it should be designed with this in mind. So without ado, Options & Traders offers up some tools you should consider integrating into your website’s design to grow your business to the levels you desire. 

Website optimization and why it works

Website optimization can sound like quite a complex topic to those that aren’t in the know regarding information technology and all its technicalities. In reality, though, if you can understand what it is and how to apply it, even a beginner can put these tools in place to get the ball moving in the right direction. What it comes down to really is establishing how you can enhance the user-friendliness of your website, whilst also ensuring that your website is easily found on the web. Ease of navigability plays a vital role here as well as the design elements such as choosing the most appropriate colors, fonts, font size, and image sizes to improve readability.

It’s also got to tie in with the requirements of what Google thinks a good website should be. Moreover, it’s about creating a website that speaks to your audience’s wants and needs and provides them with a platform to get what they want with minimal effort. In other words, it’s about increasing the searchability of your website online to increase the traffic that actually lands upon your website’s homepage. This obviously, then, has the potential to increase leads, increasing the odds of converting them into actual customers.

The different methods of website optimization

Location citations

Local citations are but one component of a successful SEO strategy that has been proven to increase your business’s visibility online. It involves listing your business’s credentials across various directories, apps, and websites. Location citations build the credibility of your business as a result of the increased presence of your website. This inevitably enhances your website’s visibility and, therefore, SEO by the algorithmic standards set by Google. 

Blending your website with internal tools to improve productivity

Customer Relationship Management systems or CRMs are an essential component of growing your business by enhancing lead generation and identifying those leads that are likely to convert into customers in the nearby future. Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (or ERPs), on the other hand, assist with customer management processes online and how to streamline these processes better.

Integrating growth tools like these with your website can amplify your reach even further. Furthermore, with a well-designed website in your toolbox, you’re likely to hit the bullseye more often than not. Here, it’s about figuring out how to integrate these internal tools with your website, which can be easily done with widely accessible software that can make this transition much smoother. At the end of the day, all it’s really about is creating a seamless customer experience in one location.

Making the difference to realize the difference

In summary, when it comes to optimizing your website, certain changes will need to be done. Not only this, but modifications will in all likelihood need to be done regularly to keep up with the times as well as ensure your website stays relevant. If done right, though, you’re sure to reap the rewards of a job well done as your business grows from strength to strength. 

Image via Pexels

– Eleanor Wyatt

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Benefits of integrating SMIELS with Quickfile today

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Newsroom

Benefits of integrating SMIELS with Quickfile | You don’t want to miss these features.

Improved Inventory, Advance user permissions, Customized modern invoices, automatic sync with Quickfile.Integration

SMIELS is a private owned, UK based company. It streamlines and optimizes all everyday business operations related to sales, purchase, inventory, reporting, and more. To find out more about SMIELS company, visit the about us page. You can also view details for all features.

SMIELS improves sales co-ordination & collaboration and ability to customize roles and scope of team members has allowed our customers to cut running costs in business and increase revenue.

When you integrate your SMILES account with Quickfile, you get the following features out of the box.

Smiels Dashboard

User Management

SMIELS has industry leading user management optimizations. Easily add team members and set their boundaries with account type and permissions. You have complete control over what information your members can see and what they can do.

Member profile settings

You can choose from our presets or set your own custom permissions.

‍Click here to view complete permission management controls and FAQ.

Member permissions

You can set your invoices or products to be verified and approved by higher authority team member before being published. This makes your process less error prone and improve sales coordination between members and management.

Invoice approval

Advance Inventory

SMIELS has powerful and advance inventory management system that allows you to add and manage products. You can assign products, inventory or a category to team member/s such as a sales person. Set your business process the way you want it. SMIELS automatically updates your stock with acquire and dispatch operations under warehousing. Easily import products from CSV file.

Product Edit page

You can attach following attributes with each product and store for use in Invoices, Estimates and Purchase Orders within SMIELS and Quickfile.

SKU – Code number/name of the product, can be alphanumeric.

Product Name – Name of the product

Brand Name – Name of the Brand

Category and Sub-Category – For easy organization

Color and Quantity – For easy identification

Purchase Price, Sale price, VAT – Set default values, these can also be updated in each invoice. SMIELS also supports multiple VAT types with custom value, you can view VAT Details in SMIELS settings page.

Profit% is calculated automatically.

You can also assign a team member to manage and handle sales/purchase of the product or the category.

You can also add description and attach any documents with each product.

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Import from CSV File

You can also select Tools option from left sidebar and import csv file of products. Learn more.

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Warehousing operations

Purchase and Sales invoices are linked with acquire and dispatch history. Your GRN/GDN operations will automatically update the stock value of the product. You can view complete history for acquires and dispatches in Warehouse option in the sidebar in your application.

Acquire GRN page

Improved Invoices

SMIELS provides support for Sales Invoices, Sales Estimates, Purchase Invoices, Purchase Orders and more. The invoices are formatted for easy readability and better understanding. You can easily customize the look and feel of the invoice within settings. SMIELS also allows you to include custom notes in the invoices which can be set in the settings.

Invoice customization

Upon approval from client, your Sales estimates will become a sales invoice. And same is the case with purchase order which becomes a purchase invoice after approval from your supplier.

Sample invoice

Customized VAT support

SMIELS supports following VAT types and allows you to enter custom values as per needs.

Smiels VAT options

You can also set default values and default invoice notes for each VAT type in the settings.

Invoice VAT defaults

Quickfile Inventory

In order to save time during product entry into invoices, Quickfile stores ITEM NAME, DESCRIPTION, UNIT COST, and QUANTITY for each product called reusable item.

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These can be limiting and also create confusion with other variable names such as categories. Not having product stock and sold quantities is a pain point for businesses.

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Furthermore, the stored variable names are not exactly what it sounds like. In Quickfile, the ITEM NAME is used as the SKU or the codenumber for the product. This code is also limited to 25 characters which can create trouble for product SKU entry.

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The UNIT COST works like Sale price this can also create misunderstandings. There are only 3 options for VAT 0, 5% and 20%. And the QUANTITY field is locked with value 1.00 which defeats the purpose of storing quantity.

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Continue reading to find out how SMIELS can solve your inventory with easy Quickfile Integration. Or you can read more about Quickfile reusable items by clicking here.

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SMIELS Inventory Integration

SMIELS integrates with your Quickfile account to provide easy inventory solution.

You can attach following attributes with each product and store for use in Invoices, Estimates and Purchase Orders within SMIELS and Quickfile.

add product inventory, smiels screen

SKU – Code number/name of the product, can be alphanumeric.

Product Name – Name of the product

Brand Name – Name of the Brand

Category and Sub-Category – For easy organization

Color and Quantity – For easy identification

Purchase Price, Sale price, VAT – Set default values, these can also be updated in each invoice. SMIELS also supports multiple VAT types with custom value, you can view VAT Details in SMIELS settings page.

Profit% is calculated automatically.

You can also assign a team member to manage and handle sales/purchase of the product or the category.

You can also add description and attach any documents with each product.

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document attach
Attach document for product

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How to Integrate SMIELS with Quickfile

Integrating SMIELS with Quickfiles provides you with inventory, stock and advanced user management for invoices functionalities. To find out more about the amazing benefits of integrating SMIELS with Quickflow, click here.

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Getting QuickFile Account ID

  • Login to Quickfile.
  • Click on your profile name in top right corner.
  • Note the Account ID.
Menu Preview

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Getting SMIELS token from Quickfile

  • Login to Quickfile.
  • Under Help, select Additional Services.
  • Now select Quickfile Marketplace.
Quickfile Dashboard

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  • From the list of options, find SMIELS.
  • Click Connect button and note the token ID.
Quickfile Marketplace

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Connect SMIELS to Quickfile

  • Login to SMIELS.
  • In top right corner click settings icon.
Smiels settings
  • Select Settings from dropdown menu.
  • Select Account Integration.
Smiels account Integration settings
  • Enter the collected credentials and press save button
Smiels account Integration settings - verified

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If the Status indicator turns green and says verified, you have successfully completed the SMIELS account integration with Quickfile.

In case of failure, kindly verify that the account id and token credentials are accurate.

If issue persists, kindly contact us through live support or send us a quick message here.

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Create a free SMIELS account at www.smiels.com and improve your business today.

https://www.smiels.com/blog/benefits-of-integrating-smiels-with-quickfile-you-dont-want-to-miss-these-features

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If some of these technical indicators are new to you, check out the videos tab on the website!

Stay tuned, learn more, ask questions. Become a 6 digit survivor. Check out the live stream.

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I want to point out, I am not a registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. I am a highly profitable options trader who has been successful time after time, and I have changed the lives of many people through the art of trading on the stock market.

– Ken

Vacasa Taps Whimstay as Booking Partner for Last-Minute Guest Travel

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Vacasa Taps Whimstay as Booking Partner for Last-Minute Guest Travel

JANUARY 6, 2022THE LATEST FROM ARRIVAL
Maximizing Sales Via Textual CommunicationsAs is the lodging industry in general, resorts and vacation rental companies are well aware that direct bookings not only help hold down the “costs of acquisition,” but also increase our guest loyalty to our brands and not to a distribution channel partner. Therefore, it is certainly important to train your team to sell via the voice channel.

However, it is also essential to ensure that your team is properly trained on best habits for textual selling via online and digital channels. For one, there is often an interplay of the voice and online bookings. Secondly, many guests first reach out by way of the written word, which still distinctly shows intent.

Here are some of many textual selling opportunities…Read MoreMaximizing Sales Via Textual CommunicationsVRMA NEWSShare Your Property Photos With VRMAVRMA Arrival is looking for property photo submissions to feature in upcoming issues of the magazine. Your photo might even make it on the cover!

Send your high-resolution, print-quality photo to aschloss@vrma.org for consideration and possible publication in a future issue of Arrival. Please include a caption with each photo, as well as your full name. By sending us your photo, you acknowledge you have the right to publish the photo, and you grant VRMA the right to publish it.INDUSTRY NEWSSOCIAL IMPACT
Airbnb Will Hide Guests’ First Names in Oregon Until Bookings Are Confirmed to Fight DiscriminationStarting January 31, Airbnb hosts in Oregon will only be allowed to see the initials of guests’ first names until they confirm a booking request. Once confirmed, the guest’s full name will appear, and this change will be in effect for at least two years. The move by Airbnb is intended to address discrimination, but hosts in other states will not have the same mandate imposed on them. The company said in announcing the update that it is consistent with the voluntary settlement agreement it reached with individuals in Oregon in 2019 “who raised concerns regarding the way guests’ names are displayed when they seek to book a listing.” In 2017, Portland resident Patricia Harrington sued the company, saying because Airbnb requires guests to disclose their full name and include a photo for review before booking acceptance, the platform was allowing hosts to discriminate against Black guests in violation of Oregon’s public accommodation laws. Two more Black women in Oregon joined the lawsuit, which Airbnb eventually settled. Airbnb spokesperson Liz DeBold Fusco said the company has limited the update to Oregon because “the impact of this change is unknown.” She added that Airbnb “will evaluate the impact of this change to understand if there are learnings from this work that can inform future efforts to fight bias.”Gizmodo (01/01/22) Jody Serrano
Read MoreC-SUITE
HomeToGo Acquires AMIVAC From Groupe SeLoger, Growing Its Operations in FranceHomeToGo, the marketplace with the world’s biggest selection of vacation rentals, announced its acquisition of AMIVAC, the vacation rental business unit of Groupe SeLoger, which operates the French brands of amivac.com, vacances.com, and vacances.seloger.com. The brands offer subscription listing services for homeowners and professional agencies, which will contribute to the expansion of HomeToGo’s Subscription & Services platform. The merger aligns with Groupe SeLoger’s strategy of focusing on its real estate search business. HomeToGo CEO Patrick Andrae said the acquisition “will give AMIVAC’s customers and professional agencies an added benefit of the advanced technology solutions that HomeToGo offers, while also serving our customers with an expanded offering of unique, high-quality vacation rentals in France.” Groupe SeLoger Country Managing Director Caroline de Gantès commented that their focus on “simplifying and improving real estate search,” will seek “to improve the property buying, renting, and selling experience for all in France. We are convinced that with the ongoing consolidation of the vacation rental market in France and abroad, HomeToGo’s leading stature in the alternative accommodation industry offers compelling new opportunities for the AMIVAC, SeLoger Vacances, and Vacances.com brands.”Travel Daily News (01/04/22) Vicky Karantzavelou
Read MoreTRENDS
Western ‘Zoom Towns’ Take Aim at Short-Term RentalsFirms such as Airbnb, Vacasa, and VRBO facing short-term rental caps in Western towns have been aggressively soliciting property owners in quieter, unincorporated seaside communities with fewer restrictions on rentals, and business has surged. According to a public records request from retiree Monica Kirk in Depoe Bay, Oregon, the number of licensed short-term rentals in unincorporated neighborhoods in Lincoln County have grown from 385 to 601 since solicitations began. The transition of so many homes into short-term rentals has added to the difficulty for working people to afford homes in the county. Kirk and her neighbors collected signatures for a ballot initiative passed in November that will eliminate short-term rentals in unincorporated communities in Lincoln County over the next five years. Western tourist towns were short of affordable housing even before the pandemic, which gave rise to so-called “Zoom towns,” while owners of second homes also found it easier to list vacancies with Internet-based property firms. Whitefish, Montana, has seen long-term renters forced to move because their landlords decided to turn their housing into short-term rentals. “There’s this national thing where hospitality people aren’t returning to hospitality because the wages are too low, or they’re sick of dealing with the public or whatever it is,” said Lauren Oscilowski on the sustainable tourism management committee of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau. “But that’s just a piece of it. The bigger piece for us is really housing.”Seattle Times (01/02/22) Erika Bolstad
Read MoreREGULATORY NEWSSnowmass Village, Colorado, Town Council Chimes in on Short-Term Rentals DiscussionThe Snowmass Village Town Council has discussed the Colorado town’s options for regulating short-term rental (STR) properties without proposing an actual policy. “We should be looking at it, making sure that we are adequately protected from abuse,” said Councilor Tom Fridstein. The panel directed staff to identify STR-related issues and to devise possible regulations to address them. Councilor Alyssa Shenk recalled the dreadful misbehavior of people who rented a duplex in Aspen she used to own but acknowledged that she does “appreciate people that want to be able to get their little slice of heaven and come here. And the only way they can do it is if they rent their property some of the time.” According to Snowmass Village’s latest transient inventory study in 2018, the town has 1,699 STR units including 880 through hotel rooms, 735 in condos, and 84 in private homes, making roughly 4,768 housing and lodging units in total. Residents like Mike George think the council should not regulate STRs in reaction to a problem that it does not fully understand, arguing that property values are too high to expect a cap on STRs to “magically produce a large base of housing for our workforce.”Aspen Daily News (Colo.) (01/04/22) Matthew Bennett
Read MoreStonington, Maine, Is the Latest Town to Consider Regulating Vacation RentalsStonington, Maine, will decide whether and how to regulate short-term rentals amid a surge in the number of vacation rental properties and the increasing depletion of year-round housing. The town’s select board in December voted to organize a task force to look into the issue, making Stonington the latest community in the state to consider regulations. Airbnb listings in Stonington and neighboring Deer Isle ballooned from three to 298 between 2012 and 2018, according to the nonprofit Island Workforce Housing. “It’s to the point now, with vacation rentals having completely overtaken year-round rentals, that there’s nowhere to live,” said Peter Roth, a member of Island Workforce Housing’s Board of Directors. “People just can’t find a place to live and if they can, it’s a seasonal rental.” This is the first time Stonington has weighed possible short-term rental regulation, and Select Board member Evelyn Duncan said she hoped the task force, once established, would help frame the issue. Although short-term rentals can cause property values and property tax revenues to appreciate, if they displace people who cannot afford to buy or rent more expensive housing, they will leave. The effect will be declining school enrollments, fewer year-round residents, and a smaller pool of permanent residents which local businesses and organizations can tap for workers and volunteers.Bangor Daily News (01/03/22) Ethan Genter
Read MoreAfter Two-Year Trial, Ledyard, Connecticut, Debates New Approach to Short-Term RentalsThe town of Ledyard, Connecticut, is considering the regulation of short-term rentals following a two-year trial ordinance, which many agreed lacked sufficient agency to address neighbors’ problems about party rentals and absentee landlords. Ledyard zoning enforcement officer Mike Cherry said the present ordinance requires property owners advertising short-term rentals to have a permit, without penalty for non-compliance; town officials did not anticipate anyone operating a rental without a permit, which is why penalization rules were not included. Eric Treaster with the Ledyard Zoning Board of Appeals said “commencing legal action” against a permitless host would incur significant costs, while resident Pam Bartlett expressed concerns that Ledyard and other small towns would lose a sense of community if neighborhoods are purchased by corporations for rentals. Alternatives under discussion include regulation by ordinance with penalties added, and a proposal from Treaster to create a new zoning regulation for short-term rentals. His proposal would permit only “hosted” short-term rentals in residential areas, which means the owners are still on the property while renting out a room or accessory dwelling unit. This should discourage renters from throwing loud parties or do anything else that would disrupt neighbors or breach town regulations. A consensus favoring the zoning option appears to be forming, with new Town Planner Juliet Hodge recommending such a regulation as easier to enforce.Connecticut Examiner (01/03/22) Brendan Crowley
Read MoreAtlantic City Council Declines to Weaken Short Term Rental Ordinance Over LawsuitThe Atlantic City Council defeated a motion to water down its statutes on Airbnb-style short-term rentals at a special meeting, saying its legal team should return to the negotiating table in a lawsuit over the city’s actions. City attorney Michael Perugini said the revisions to one ordinance and removal of another were mandated by a recent court settlement in a reopened 2012 case. An ordinance to limit the number of such rentals in the 6th Ward in areas of the Chelsea neighborhood to those already licensed, or about 50, was staged for elimination, while language limiting house occupancy to 16 and requiring private garbage collection would have been stripped from another ordinance. “Lower Chelsea is being destroyed by short-term rentals,” said Chelsea Neighborhood Association President Carole Ruffu, who pleaded that the council not dismiss the issue so quickly. She cited noise pollution, overflowing trash cans, strangers the area, and residents’ inability to find parking. Following the meeting, Councilman Jesse Kurtz said the state can either veto the council’s actions and force the changes in the ordinance, or let the city renegotiate the settlement. It had already barred the ordinance limiting licenses from taking effect.Press of Atlantic City (12/29/21) Michelle Brunetti Post
Read More – May Require Paid SubscriptionNorthern Michigan Communities Wary of Short-Term Rental BillNorthern Michigan communities are closely watching an ordinance on short-term rentals in 2022, which would prevent local governments from banning such rentals, and instead leave control at the state level. Several cities have proposed resolutions opposing the bill, which is also opposed by the Michigan Municipal League. Many of these communities have resort- and tourism-based economies, and with demand for workforce residences already at a premium, many local government leaders say the bill would strip their authority on an issue that requires local regulation. Harbor Springs passed one resolution opposing the measure, amid mounting concerns about the city’s housing inventory being poached for short-term rentals. Harbor Springs City Manager Victor Sinadinoski said the ordinance, if passed as is, “could as much as triple or quadruple the number of short-term rentals we have now, and the number we have now, as expressed by a lot of residents, is too many and is ruining the…residential feel of some neighborhoods.” Last-minute revisions to the bill permit local units to set some caps on how many short-term rentals a property owner could operate, and on the number of short-term rentals; but at least 30% of existing residential units in a municipality must still be available for short-term rental. “When you take away the ability for housing to be used for long term rentals, you are really destabilizing the community,” warned Petoskey City Councilwoman Kate Marshall. “When you start giving real estate people and developers the edge, you will erode this community.”Petoskey News-Review (12/29/21) William T. Perkins
Read MoreS.C. House Bill Would Prohibit Cities From Banning Short-Term RentalsA bill in the South Carolina House would outlaw bans on short-term rentals in cities and towns. Local governments that break the rules would not be allowed to collect property tax at the higher 6% commercial rate for short-term rental properties and be disqualified from receiving money from the Local Government Fund and other state aid. Property owners prevented from operating a short-term rental would only be subject to the 4% property tax rate for a primary residence, even if the property was used as a second home or long-term rental, according to bill co-sponsor Rep. Lee Hewitt (R). The Municipal Association of South Carolina’s Scott Slatton said no local governments in the state are known to have outright banned short-term rentals, and while the association does not oppose the bill as written, this could change if it were rewritten to prevent regulating the rentals. “This is just one of many bills that seek to preempt local authority and, on principle, those are things that we generally we’re going to oppose because local officials know best how to address issues in their communities,” Slatton commented. Cities across South Carolina have considered and implemented short-term rental regulations as sites like Airbnb and VRBO have become increasingly popular, while Hewitt said the concern is that governments will consider such rules as more people relocate to the coast or buy property there to operate as rentals. “You’re just saying, ‘Hey, guys, that’s fine. If you want to do it, you can do it. But here are the consequences if you do,'” he noted.Post and Courier (SC) (12/24/21) Stephen Festenau
Read MorePRESS RELEASESVacasa Taps Whimstay as Booking Partner for Last-Minute Guest TravelSan Francisco—January 5, 2021 – Whimstay, Shortyz finalist for best Online Travel Agent in 2021, has entered into a partnership agreement with Vacasa, North America’s leading vacation rental management platform. Whimstay will now be a premier sales partner for last-minute reservations at Vacasa’s 35,000+ vacation rental properties. With this new partnership and addition of Vacasa’s inventory, Whimstay customers will now be able to book stays at over 100,000 vacation rental properties.

“Whimstay offers deals on last-minute vacation rentals,” says Ben Jamshahi, CEO and Co-Founder of Whimstay. “Partnering with Vacasa allows our customers to not only book Vacasa’s professionally managed and well-appointed vacation rental properties, but also provides incremental revenue for Vacasa’s homeowners when their homes may have been otherwise vacant.”
Vacasa is a full-service vacation rental management platform caring for thousands of vacation rentals in more than 400 of the most sought-after vacation destinations throughout North America, Belize and Costa Rica. The company’s end-to-end technology platform helps to maximize revenue and optimize vacation rental home care services for property owners, while providing guests with a consistent, professional vacation rental experience across all its properties and destinations.

“The pandemic accelerated a preference shift that was a decade in the making, with more people trying short-term rentals for the first time and guests staying in them more often,” said Caleb Donegan, VP of Marketing for Vacasa. “While we’re experiencing an increase in demand and occupancy rates remain high, our partnership with Whimstay will connect more guests with our homes and elevated vacation rental experience.”

About Whimstay
Whimstay, founded in 2018, is the first to market aggregator of unsold vacation rental properties and provides last minute deals in the fast-growing vacation rental market. Recognized as a Shortyz finalist for Best OTA in 2021, as well as Rentals United’s Who’s Who of new OTA for 2020 and 2021. Whimstay’s properties are available on whimstay.com and the Whimstay app.
For press inquiries, media@whimstay.com

About Vacasa
Vacasa is the leading vacation rental management platform in North America, transforming the vacation rental experience by integrating purpose-built technology with expert local and national teams. Homeowners enjoy earning significant incremental income on one of their most valuable assets, delivered by the company’s unmatched technology that adjusts rates in real time to maximize revenue. Guests can relax comfortably in Vacasa’s 35,000+ homes across more than 400 destinations in North America, Belize and Costa Rica, knowing that 24/7 support is just a phone call away. In addition to enabling guests to search, discover and book its properties on Vacasa.com and the Vacasa Guest App, Vacasa provides valuable, professionally managed inventory to top channel partners, including Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo.
For more information, visit https://www.vacasa.com/press.News summaries © copyright 2022 Smithbucklin© Copyright 2022 by the Vacation Rental Management Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Subscribe | Change E-mail | Unsubscribe | Advertise
For advertising opportunities, please contact Kevin McDonnell at kmcdonnell@vrma.org or 202-367-1259, or view our online prospectus.   The Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) provides best-in-class education, networking, and professional development opportunities to make a difference for you and your company. VRMA works worldwide on behalf of our manager and supplier members to advance the vacation rental industry through education, information, networking, research, and advocacy.

Vacation Rental Management Association
2001 K Street NW, Suite 300 North, Washington DC 20006
Tel: (202) 367-1179 | Contact Us

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Join a discord community called YOLO Founders to help founders grow ~
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Check out what we do!

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Rank 20,000 on Crunchbase!

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If some of these technical indicators are new to you, check out the videos tab on the website!

Stay tuned, learn more, ask questions. Become a 6 digit survivor. Check out the live stream.

Get Started Today

Join my robinhood team and get a free stock here

Learn about my Indicators here.

Become a member and learn!

Newsletter Signup

Disclaimer:

I want to point out, I am not a registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. I am a highly profitable options trader who has been successful time after time, and I have changed the lives of many people through the art of trading on the stock market.

– Ken

3 Inventory strategies you must implement to grow fast!

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#areahype #yolofounders

Improve and optimize your Inventory process with ABC analysis, Safety Stock and Reorder Stock Strategies.

Growth

What is Inventory Management

Inventory management is the tracking process of your business products as they are sourced, bought, stored and sold. It helps reduce costs and improve the company’s ability to meet customer demand and achieve own goals for profit and competitive edge. In this blog post we share some strategies and some tips to help you increase your revenue and reduce loss caused by inventory.

Basic Process Flow

1.      Product purchase order is created and sent to the supplier. Once accepted, it’s converted into a purchase invoice.

2.      Products are bought, acquired and stored. If you’re not using a software solution then you’re likely going to be counting the products manually which can waste a lot of time and there are also chances for error.

3.      When order is placed, generate sales invoice, dispatch products and update inventory stock.

We’re going to help you update your inventory process by familiarizing you with some strategies which can help you get competitive edge and acquire happy and returning customers.

SKU

Your SKU is the product identifier and should be unique for each product. You should be creative with the SKU and make it easy to understand in order to improve storing and retrieving process. An example SKU for White iPhone X 256 GB product can be iphone_x_w_256 instead of 2772732635452. This SKU is important to be mentioned on invoice as well. Each product with same SKU can be distinguished with its unique Serial or IMEI number.

Stock Control

The process of acquiring, dispatching and making sure “required stock” is available comes under stock control process. Your “required stock” can be based on formulas and strategies that we will discuss later. During product acquiring process, the unique serial numbers can be noted (preferably in your software) to improve your inventory process and have exact quantity and exact unique product serial numbers in the system which matches your physical inventory. This will make your dispatch process much smoother.

Safety Stock Inventory

Safety stock is the sweet number of products to meet the customer demands without increasing your product carrying costs. It sounds easy but to find out how much stock you should keep is the challenging part. You can use this formula

Safety stock = (max units sold per day * max lead time in days) – (avg units sold per day * avg lead time in days)

When to Reorder Stock

If you reorder stock too early, you will have to face storage costs and if you order late, you may have to face disappointed customers. Finding the perfect reorder time is important to maintain happy customers and keep costs low. You can use the formula

Reorder Stock = (days it takes from purchase order to receiving delivery * avg units sold per day) + safety stock

Unavailable Stock Error

If your inventory is managed manually then there are chances that you might have to face stock errors such as, stock being shown as available whereas it’s not actually present in the warehouse or vice versa. In order to reduce this error, you will have to move to digital solutions for inventory management and stock control.

Clear Old Inventory

You can accumulate old inventory which went out of style or no longer trending items if you did not plan your stock control process properly. ABC analysis is a great way to identify such issues and help you clear out items that may no longer be in demand with clearance sales or in some cases may need to be destroyed.

In ABC analysis, you classify each product SKU as A, B OR C based on following definitions which allows you to make an informed decision.

A: Low stock (10%). High value (70%)

B: Medium stock (20%). Medium value (20%)

C: High stock (70%), Low value (10%)

Software solutions

SMIELS is a great software solution to make your inventory process efficient and less prone to errors. You are able to create purchase orders which become purchase invoices once accepted. You can send and export these customized invoices in pdf and excel formats. You are able to input your acquired products with their SKU and unique Serial and IMEI number for each. When you make a sale, you can generate sales invoice and add product dispatch. If you don’t wish to validate IMEI or Serial numbers during this step you can disable that in the settings. SMIELS also provides advance user management features which increase sales coordination and team collaboration. You can also set custom roles and permissions for your team members. In order to handle accounting within SMIELS you can integrate your free account with a free Quickfile or Quickbook account as well.

To learn more features about SMIELS or register a free account, visit www.smiels.com.

‍https://www.smiels.com/blog/3-inventory-strategies-you-must-implement

#accounting #inventoryintegration #invoicingmangement

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The 6 Tips to Improve your Invoicing and Billing Process

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1.   Getting the basics right

If your invoicing and billing process is not yet digital you must be living in a cave. Going digital allows you to maintain invoice history, find and view any invoice immediately, maintain data privacy and hide sensitive data from unauthorized access, some software and services can even show you patterns and insights so you can improve your business process and increase your revenue.

Let’s go a step further, invoicing system software are very limiting for modern business use. It can only be installed on systems meeting the requirements and is limited by power availability and not to mention the high cost of development. You are unable to sync your data between devices such as to your mobile. Trained staff is required to make use of these software and ongoing maintenance is also not possible in most cases.

Cloud solutions are attractive due to low cost of operation, 24/7 availability, with seamless sync between all your devices so you can also perform business tasks on your mobile device. These services are easy to use and are regularly maintained. If you are not already using a cloud based invoicing service, then here is our pick for top 10 cloud based invoicing services.

2.   Best time to invoice and Handle late payments

The best time to send an invoice is immediately after a purchase of service, or right after delivering the products or right after your project is completed. This shows your professional attitude towards your business. If you have to send recurring invoices, send them on the same date every month such as the first of every month to maintain business consistency.

If your invoices don’t have a due date. Your clients and suppliers may not be clearing their dues on time. Therefore you need to set due date on your invoices in a clearly visible location like the top right corner. You should also send a respectful reminder or a notice when the due date is near. Which will alert your client to clear the amount as soon as possible.

You can also ask for an advance deposit from a new client. This way you will be able to understand how they handle payments and if they are serious about doing business with you. It is important that everything is properly documented and if your invoicing software supports recent history tracing and tracking then you can also use that feature to avoid any confusions at later stage.

If you’re still facing late payment issues after above tips then you can also setup late payment charges. Businesses commonly charge 5% fee on late payments, you can set it as a percentage or set an increase of x amount for every x days after the due date. A late payment penalty is enough motivation for people to pay on time.

More about handling late paying client as a small business.

3.   Payment Terms and Notes

You should attach your payment terms and policies in your invoice. It contains all your terms of payments such as payment method, due date, consequences of late payment and how any possible scenario will be dealt. It is important to explain and discuss your payment terms and policies to your clients and suppliers before making a deal. You might have to make some changes to your policies so that you and your client are equally comfortable with the deal. It will also make sure that there is no ambiguity or confusions in any of the terms. Your updated terms for the particular deal should be attached to the invoice.

Discussing your terms with your client will make sure they are not surprised at the time of invoicing. And this will also help you to get paid on time. Your client will also appreciate the transparency from your side and this helps in building a strong relationship for the future.

Apart from payment terms and policies, you can also attach notes in your invoices to convey any message in a professional way. Such as a Thank You message for your client, VAT information details, Shipping information details or other.

4.   VAT information

Tax information and charges need to be clearly communicated in the invoices. There are a number of VAT types such as standard tax, EC rate, reverse charge, margin VAT and others. Your invoicing software should be able to support all these VAT types with custom values. If your software does not support it then you’re probably going to have to waste time in manually recalculating all your amounts and adjusting your profit margins. You can also include VAT notes in your invoices to further clarify any misunderstanding or confusion your client may have.

Learn more about VAT and its types.

5.   Branded invoices and Design flaws

Your clients can judge your professionalism by your invoice design. Therefore invoice design matters. Your invoice should be clear and easy to read and understand. All the details should be in appropriate sections and clearly mentioned. It is recommended to customize your invoices and follow your brand colors and include company logo. It is important not to over design your invoice and to keep it simple.

Some companies also test their invoice design with some of their clients. This is a great way to identify any problems that you may not have thought about. These feedbacks are valuable from your targeted demographic client. Such as if you have an international business and you test your invoice design with clients of different backgrounds and ages then you will be able to better understand how good your invoice is for your international clients.

6.   Use digital tools

As we briefly discussed above, going digital has many advantages. A digital tool greatly improves your business process efficiency and increases revenue because you will be able to setup a streamline process to manage your business and most importantly your sales. Cloud software solutions allow you to easily manage your data anytime anywhere. In addition you can also cut your running costs with following features.

Team Members and Permissions

Add team members and set their boundaries with account type and custom permissions. You have complete control over what information your members can see and what they can do. You can set your invoices to be verified and approved by higher authority team member before being published. This makes your process less error prone and improve sales coordination between members and management.

Record of clients and suppliers

Maintain an easy to access record of your clients and suppliers so you can easily view details of contact person or your history of invoices with them. You can also assign sales persons from your team to specific clients or suppliers so they can only manage those clients.

Inventory Management

Advance inventory management allows you to add and manage your products directly in the invoicing software so you can easily add and reference these within invoices. You can also assign products, inventory or product category to sale persons from your team. If your invoicing solution supports GRN/GDN operations then it will automatically update product stock info and you can manage and view complete history for product acquires and dispatches.

Easily share and export

These tools save your time and allow you to easily create invoices with few clicks. These invoices can be exported in pdf or excel formats. You can also share invoices with your clients through email. This quick and easy process saves you hours every week.

SMIELS is a B2B business solution which provides cloud based invoicing with the features discussed above and more. You can try a live demo or visit www.smiels.com to register a free account and make your business process easy and efficient.

‍https://www.smiels.com/blog/6-tips-to-improve-your-invoicing-and-billing-process-by-47

#accounting #inventoryintegration #invoicingmangement

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– Ken

The Best Way to Boost Your SEO with SMIELS for SMBs

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Hello,

Let’s figure out how to boost your SEO with SMIELs.

This can easily be done with their website and platform.

It’s called using the right backlinks and data that redirects you to your site.

#accounting #inventoryintegration #invoicingmangement

NEW Best Community for Startup Founders via Discord!

Join a discord community called YOLO Founders to help founders grow ~
Join here: https://discord.gg/uyNvNp4Umm

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Rank 21,700 on Crunchbase!

Disclaimer: This is not a paid advertisement.

If some of these technical indicators are new to you, check out the videos tab on the website!

Stay tuned, learn more, ask questions. Become a 6 digit survivor. Check out the live stream.

Get Started Today

Join my robinhood team and get a free stock here

Learn about my Indicators here.

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Disclaimer:

I want to point out, I am not a registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. I am a highly profitable options trader who has been successful time after time, and I have changed the lives of many people through the art of trading on the stock market.

– Ken