Dissecting the Successful Cold Call

by Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc.

When you’re the one who receives the cold call, what is the sales person doing to create success?

Introduction You’re deep into your work and the phone rings. Someone wants to sell you something. You think to yourself, ‘Another sales person? Talking to this person is the last thing I want to do right now,’ and you begin to hang up.

Analysis: Less than 25% – and more like 10% – of cold calls reach the decision maker on a single try. Equally importantly, recipients never expect a cold call and want to end the call almost immediately.

It is critical that the sales person be respectful and quickly present a compelling statement about why they are calling, without being too eager.

Conversation The sales person starts talking about something you’ve already been thinking about, or something you might actually want to learn more about.

Analysis: About 20% of decision makers will have an interest in continuing a conversation. The best prospects are familiar with the product or service and already want to buy it. But, a good caller can also pique the interest of those who ‘might’ have a need.

An overly-persistent caller will annoy those with no interest, denigrate the brand, and waste time.

Conversation, continued While you’re interested, this is just not the right time. Besides, you need some proof the company is legitimate before you agree to meet. You ask for more information.

Analysis: About 90% of decision makers who ask for more information simply want to get off the phone. A good sales person can tell when the decision maker might have true interest. Otherwise, sending more information is a waste of time and money.

Conversation, continued You and the sales person talk a bit about your needs. The sales person learns that you are involved in the decision making process.

Analysis: Yes, all good sales people ask for the appointment first. No experienced cold caller resorts immediately to ‘sending more information.’ However, despite what some sales courses say, often a decision maker requires documentation before agreeing to a meeting.

The sales person always tries to send information directly to the decision maker and not to an assistant or secretary. (Sometimes the gatekeeper is the only way in the door, however.)

Email This sales person sends you a professional email, from an account that is not Yahoo or Hotmail and attaches a professionally created PDF. A website address is included.

Analysis: A generic email address is an automatic red flag. Companies who do not have web sites, likewise, reduce their credibility.

Conversation, continued The sales person calls you back, at the agreed upon time. This time, you pick up the phone and are ready to talk. The sales person references prior notes, showing they remember you.

Analysis: Who knows? You might become a client.

What went right?

1) Got quickly to the point, so you didn’t hang up first. 2) Asked questions to confirm that you were truly interested. 3) Confirmed that you had decision making authority. 4) Set a specific time to call you back. 5) Acted respectfully and professionally.

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Online Discussion Board Advertising

by Kim and Charles Petty

Posting messages on online discussion boards is a great way to get free advertising. When you post a message include your signature file at the end. Your signature file should be no more than 5 to 6 lines. Include an attention-getting sentence why they should visit your web site or e-mail your auto esponder.

Some online discussion boards allow you to leave text and graphic links at the end of your messages. You will get a better click-through rate with links than just a normal signature file.

Below are three types of messages you could post to online discussion boards:

1. Informative Comments

Post information that would be informative to the people who participate on the discussion board. It could be an article or a study you’ve completed.

2. Ask Questions

Post a question on the discussion board you would like answered. This will give you a chance to meet other experts and it could lead to a profitable joint venture.

3. Answer Questions

Post the answer to another person’s question on the discussion board. When you answer questions you will get known as an expert on the subject.

Before posting to any online discussion board read the FAQ or rules first. They will tell you what kinds of posts are allowed. Read the board for a few days before posting your message to see what type of messages are being posted. Never post messages on a board that are unrelated to the subject.

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How to Run a Home Business

by Jerry Strics

Many people dream about owning their own successful business. A home business can bring in more profit with less stress but this is something many people do not realize. Some key strategies to run a home business successfully will help onto the road of success if the person knows them.

To start a successful home business there are four steps. Organization, schedule, family, and commitment are these simple steps. A profitable home business will be guaranteed if you follow these easy steps.

The first step is organization. Any business needs to be organized or it will fall apart at the seams. A home business needs organization more than any other does because a home business is run by one person rather than a group.

Owning a personal organization device, like a date book or a blackberry, is the start of being organized. Organization is a mental state that some people need to force themselves to achieve. Being mentally organized is essential to making a business organized.

Train yourself to focus and regulate your life by taking organization classes at your local community college or go to the bookstore and find some materials about it. There are plenty of different books about the many different types of organization. Managing your business will be easier once you have become mentally organized.

Set a schedule that provides the times for work, play and study will benefit not only your business but also your family and home and keep it. Be fair in the amount of time you set for work and the amount set for time with the family. Sticking to your assigned schedule will help to teach your family to do the same.

Some children will want to play the entire time the parent is home, this must be explained thoroughly. If you ?assign work? for the children to do along side you, they will be more apt to allow you work time. No matter what happens, during the first few months, always work exactly the same hours each day.

If your family is not kept out of the workplace loop, you will find them supportive of your working at home. It is not always possible to include your children in your work. If this is the case for the career you have chosen, it is a good idea to send your children to day care for the first few months until the idea of their parent being at home sets.

Your family should be your top priority even if you are just beginning your business. Your family will not appreciate you placing work ahead of them in your list of important things to do. Due to the amount of stress involved in starting a home business, the substantial amount of support you receive from your family will push you to work harder.

It is true that if your family is not completely onboard with your working at home, then you soon will not be either. Staying committed to the dream is the key to success. Simply knowing that your business will benefit everyone in your family will not keep the business afloat; it is a daily struggle.

Pouring your heart and soul into the business, for the first year or two, will help your business grow. If you customers see that your business is extremely important to you, they will know that your product is important and therefore the best you can offer. If you are committed to building a life outside of the nine to five, your business will show it.

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Doorbell Replacement is a Easy Home Improvement Project

by Guy Morris

An doorbell that doesn’t work can cause a lot of problems, and the frustrating part is that you never KNOW it is not working until people start complaining about your not answering the door. But if you are putting off calling the handyman because you are scared at the size of the bill, think again. Doorbell replacement is easily done, and you’ll save money when you do it yourself.

Doorbell Installation

Doorbell repair might just be the easiest way DIY project out there. Just a few steps, and you’ll have a brand new doorbell (and bragging rights for your home repair skills.) It doesn’t require anything as elaborate as an air compressor, but you will need the basic tools.

The easiest doorbell around? The wireless transmitted doorbell. This doorbell works as a transmitter. Your visitor pushed the bell outside, and a signal goes to the receiver, which plays the sound of your bell. And all you have to do is hang the receiver on the wall.

Ease of installation isn’t??t the only thing that makes wireless doorbells ideal. Consider the following:

– You can scatter transmitters around the house, so you hear the bell no matter what room you are in.

– They require little electricity. The receiver must be plugged in, but the outside button needs a small battery (that will last for years).

Installing a Replacement Wired Doorbell

It’s not as easy as wireless installation, but you can still replace a wired doorbell in a jiffy. With a flathead screwdriver and new doorbell switch, you’re ready to go. Don’t sweat turning off the power – the voltage involved in a doorbell won’t send you flying across the room.

All you have to do now is take off the old switch and disconnect the wires. Set the screws someplace safe so you can reuse them. Plug in your new wires, trimming as needed. Peel back some of the insulation from the wires as well – around a half inch is about right.

Now, connect those some wires to the new switch. There is no fooling around with which end of the wire goes into which connection – any way you do it will work just fine. Now, using your screws, attach your new doorbell switch. You may have to pull the wires through first. Continue screwing the switch in until it is flat on the wall.

The next step is to test your handy work. If your doorbell doesn’t??t ring now, something may be wrong with the machine that does the actual chiming. You can get a new chime machine from a hardware restore, and repeat the process of changing it almost exactly as you did your doorbell. On fancier chiming machines, the wire matching matters, so follow the directions carefully.

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Dont Buy WoW Gold Again

by Raul Krost

So you were looking for a place to buy World of Warcraft gold, were you? Yeah, I know how you feel. You can’t make WoW gold quick enough, can you? It’s too hard, isn’t it?

Winterspring – Frostmaul Giants are a great to farm in this area. You can find them in Frostwhisper Gorge. I recommend farming these guys because they have about a 2% drop rate for a recipe for Greater Frost Protection Potion which can be sold for up to 50 gold. The downside is they aren’t the easiest to kill so be prepared before farming this area.

Winterspring – At point (60,75) you can find Darkwhisper Gorge which is the Southern part of Winterspring. The mobs here such as Hedrine Slayer are pretty tough to kill since they’re 60 elites. Killing them is definitely worth the effort though since they have a 1% drop rate for Eye of Shadow. This item is highly valuable and can be sold for up to 200 gold. On top of that you expect to collect Runcloth and Felcloth.

Western Plaguelands – This is a great area to farm for a recipe for Greater Nature Protection Potion. You can find this by killing decaying horrors and rotting behemoths. They can be found in the Weeping Cave.

Gold carries advantages. Buying extra consumables like armor kits, potions and weapon sharpening tools may also add to your character’s effectiveness. Purchasing an epic mount is not only cool but adds convenience to your travel time. Profession skills training such as tailoring, enchanting and engineering may cost a pack in rare items and goods seen by other gamers.

In most cases through your World of Warcraft travels, you should concentrate on killing Humanoids instead of creatures. Humanoids drop cloth, and cloth sells VERY WELL. Humanoids also drop some straight Gold to help supplement your income. It can really add up. The important thing is the cloth, though. Cloth is one of the main sellers on the Auction House, and if you “grind” on Humanoids, you will accumulate a VERY large amount of cloth before you know it. It will always sell quite well on the Auction House, and will bring you a very pretty penny. *The following tip is responsible for thousands and thousands of gold among many players who take advantage of it… it’s easier than you think, too.

Friends of mine spend 90% of their wow gaming farming. I don’t know about you but I wasn’t willing to devote that much time into farming – I wanted to play the parts of the game I loved.

I invested in professional gold making guide because they stress techniques that are time efficient. They took techniques used by gold farmers in China that know the most efficient ways to make gold.

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Today’s Business Environment Threatens Cold Calling Effectiveness

by Valerie Schlitt, President of VSA, Inc.

But four specific steps can turn disastrous campaigns into successes. Despite frustrations, B2B cold calling is alive and well and continues to fill companies’ sales pipelines. Professionals at the highest levels of their careers employ this prospecting activity to augment sales made through warm referrals and introductions. But for many salespeople, telephone canvassing has posed challenges that have driven them to stop cold calling altogether. Here’s why: a. Only 5% to 30% of prospects are at their desks and answer their phones. b. Most calling lists do not contain the decision-makers’ correct names. c. Voicemail is universal and blocks most calls. d. Roughly 30% of a cold caller’s time is spent navigating phone systems and company directories.

How, then, do successful cold callers make sales this way? Here are four critical activities to make cold calling worth the time, aggravation and investment: a. Make absolutely sure you have the very best list you can obtain. Your calling list accounts for 70% of the success of your campaign. Today, successful calling campaigns require a targeted, accurate list. There is an entire cottage industry of Internet researchers who create custom lists – at rates of $60 to $150 per hour – using proprietary databases and other techniques. The rates are well worth the investment if your campaign relies on reaching prospects with specific criteria that cannot be found on generic mailing lists. For instance, a global technology firm wanted to target prospects who owned specific hardware. It paid an outside company to identify these prospects and create a qualified list. As a result, the technology firm implemented a focused and effective calling campaign.

b. Develop a compelling voice message and call multiple times. Most sales training imbues people with the practice of never leaving voice messages because they are a waste of time and money. It is absolutely false that no one will return a cold call. Recipients in greatest need of your product or service will return persuasive voice messages. More importantly, every voice message serves as a “touch.” Advertising experts say it takes six to 30 “touches” such as print ads, TV ads, phone calls, or letters for a prospect to take action. If an individual is not ready to respond now, he or she may respond to another “touch” in a month or two. Each voice message is a new touch. Three companies – a major national marketing firm, a 60-year-old national fund management company, and an up-start regional advertising firm targeting Fortune 100 companies – can attest to the benefits of repeat calling. Each reported gaining some of their most valuable prospects after the third or fourth phone message.

c. Create a B2B cold calling department or hire an outsourced calling team. A top-tier sales person could be on the phone for five hours before getting a single qualified lead. This is a waste talent ant time. You don’t need a top tier salesperson to make calls. Callers need to know two things and only two things: what problems your products or service solve for prospects, and what makes your firm unique. You can hire an entire team of callers with no experience in your industry to canvass prospects via the phone and hunt down hot leads. Your team of cold callers must be conversational, work without a script and sound alert for every call. Leave the technical and pricing details to the high priced salesperson.

d. Create campaigns that intersperse mailings and calls. Mail prospects before and during your cold calling campaign, especially if your product or service is: 1, Visual, such as advertising or promotional products. 2. Complex, such as a technology or pharmaceuticals. 3. A mature product in a saturated market such as printing or collections.

If the mailing piece is memorable, it will create a warmer reception for the cold caller and enhance opportunities for success.

In today’s environment, planning and creative thinking result in cold calling success – and help sales professionals fill pipelines during times when referrals fall short.

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Make Money With Affiliate Programs

by Ade Carone

It seems as if everyone wants to make money with affiliate programs and for good reason too. Affiliate programs are one of the internets hottest topics in this new millenium. Average folks all around the world have been able to quit their jobs because of it.

Find a reputable affiliate program and stay with it. Many people have been ripped off in the past and not paid for the sales they made. If you sign up with a program such as Clickbank, this will not be the case for you.

It is crucial to find a solid company to work with. The last thing you want is to get ripped off after the effort you put into promoting a certain program.

Use Google to research and read about affiliate marketing before you actually begin working or promoting a program. Far too many people don’t do this.

The sheer size of affiliate marketing is impressive. There are thousands of products to sell and it’s no wonder so many people become overloaded.

It doesn’t matter what way you intend to monetize products as an affiliate, if you do not become a master of one method, you are destined to fail.

Picture yourself working just a few hours each week with unlimited earning potential. It seems nice doesn’t it? To get to that point will take a lot of hard work. Are you ready?

Honestly, if deep down you don’t believe you can become wealthy from your work, then working towards that goal would seem silly wouldn’t it? Gather your spirit up and learn as much as you can, it’s time you started to learn online marketing.

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Design Programs Make Room Decor Easy

by Jerry Blackburn

Are you envious of Martha Stewart and other interior designers? Wish you could have a professionally decorated home but can’t afford to hire a designer? Or, do you wish you were a designer but don’t have the time or the funds to go to school?

Never fear, the solution to your problem is as close as your computer. Even interior design has gone high tech. There are several interior design programs that let you redo your space with the click of a keyboard. Don’t like what you’ve come up with? No problem, a few more clicks and you can try something different.

Actually professional interior designers have been using software to do their work for years. It’s easier and more convenient than paper-and-pencil graphs. They can plan out their ideas before physically moving anything. They can also try different shades of color before committing to one.

One fun thing you can do with a design program is to try out different types of furniture shapes and place them exactly where you want them in the room. Do you love the look of wicker furniture but aren’t sure how it would look in your Early American living room. Here’s an easy way to find out. You can also try the furniture in different colors. If you are tempted to paint or stain that old bureau, you can get an idea of how it would look first. You can even lay out and decide on your choice of kitchen cabinet doors.

Most interior design programs are very easy to use. Just load the program and follow the directions on screen. You can use it to design one corner of a room, a whole room or even your whole house. Some even allow you to do your home and your landscaping.

Because there are so many different programs available, it’s a good idea to read about them before you purchase. Make sure the program is compatible with your computer system and you have enough space on your system. Read product reviews for different titles: you may find the ones that call themselves “user-friendly” are not necessarily so easy. You may find some programs can interact with websites that can give you more information.

Most interior design programs are very inexpensive. It’s a fun way to spend time. You may find that you enjoy interior design and decide to pursue it as a career. Or, you may decide that it will just be a fun hobby.

You can also use the program to vent your frustrations: You can imagine designing your bedroom with a purple-and-orange pirate motif. If that doesn’t help you forget your real-world troubles, nothing will.

So, next time you get the urge to redo a room, head on over to your computer. Boot it up and try out some ideas. It’s cheaper, quicker and more fun to make mistakes in your virtual space than doing it in real life.

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Principles of Physics According To A Penny Stock Advisor

by Malcolm Torren

Penny stock investing have a lot to do with physic. How would the stock market look and sound like? Just how similar are the two fields?

It’s an interesting thought to follow. You’d probably end up analyzing too much on some empirical formula and how it works. Perhaps you’d be challenged about momentum penny stocks. Is there really gravity in these numbers? What could be your learning curve? If the penny stock advisor was a physicist, would he be interested in the stock market just the same? What laws of physics could there be?

– Law no. 1 – What goes up must come down. Of course, the numbers will still behave as usual. Think of your penny stocks as bubbles. The smaller the price, the lesser its weight. Then the easier for it to float. When it gets bigger, the more volatile it becomes and the easier it bursts. Then you may lose the bubble forever.

– Law no. 2 – There are no horizontal lines, only horizons. Professor penny stock advisor will tell you that your penny stocks cannot move sideways. It’s only up or down. Therefore, if it goes up, you don’t see horizontal lines but new and better horizons for you.

– Law no. 3 – Think big but start small. You start with a cheap small cap share and imagine it to grow bigger. But it needs energy if you want it to grow. Penny stock brokers will help bring in the investors to fuel the energy for you. At the end of the day, your profit is realized. This theory explains that with positive energy, your penny stocks can only grow.

– Law no. 4 – Time is inversely proportional with money. The longer you keep your penny stocks in, the more risky your investments become. Professor penny stock advisor can prove this by applying this fourth theory with the first law. If your penny stocks are subjected at a longer time at its current size and weight, it will eventually drop.

– Law no. 5 – The theory of the penny stock trajectory. What is a trajectory? A trajectory is defined when an object is thrown up into the air. Because of the magnitude of force it is subjected, it will take time before it comes down again. This imaginary curve is formed. With this curve includes the time factor when how long it stayed up and the distance it has covered with its travel. If the penny stock trajectory is perfect, an investor and penny stock broker would be able to pinpoint the exact time when the peak happens. Unfortunately, there is none.

Then professor penny stock advisor therefore concludes that the laws of the stock market can be compared to physics. But the difference is that the penny stock trading cannot be an absolute science. You cannot calculate risks accurately. But you can trace the irregularities of the trend. Your best fallback is your empirical analysis. That means your ability to decide.

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Web Hosting Overseas

by Matt Hedges

In a business context, it is an indisputable fact that that, the term ‘offshore’ indicates a kind of tax avoidance and sketchy business policy. At times, an integral part of the business world is Offshore Web hosting. A perfect example of where it is preferred is North America. As only outside of American soil the issues of privacy and security standards can be delivered, it is thus given preference.

Lower levels of government constraint, interference and instruction in business activities, encouraging taxation policies, increased profit opportunities and special secrecy and confidentiality laws to protect offshore entities are some of the favorable aspects of offshore web hosting. Let me put it in this manner that these aspects have given birth to a number of offshore Web hosts in places like Central America, Caribbean and certain parts of Asia.

For its advantage of being inexpensive, offshore web hosting solutions are preferred by some people. But, it only becomes worthy if it is of some aid for you. So, think about its necessity and only then its cost is an advantage. It is of paramount significance for some people but may not be for you. So, think in an intense manner not to misuse money.

Costs of Offshore Hosting – I think that the undeniable fact is that a large share of the popularity of offshore web hosting is based on the information that it is something that saves your money. It is normally 3-5 less compared to anywhere else if you talk about offshore web hosting, design, and development. This fact is favored by an intensive research of the hourly rate of offshore outsourcing services for web development in the United States, in Ukraine, and in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom it ranges from $25-$50, from $35- $75 in the United States and a drastic reduction to $5- $20 in Ukraine. So, in order that you can save money, this is truly an ideal choice for you.

The following factors may encourage you to think of hosting a provider outside of your home country-

1. The companies of well repute can block your site with the aid of money and lawyers due to the issue of controversial content published by you.

2. To protect yourself from blackouts and natural disasters, you have the benefit of guaranteeing yourself multiple mirror locations.

3. You will have full protection from any type of restrictive censorship.

4. You will enjoy proper delivery of content to your offshore audiences who are at quite a distance from your hosting source.

5. Against the hackers, it provides you with greater security.

Another thing that is definitely to be mentioned is that offering competitive hosting services from non-traditional regions of the world will soon be a reality. By controlling advantageous labor costs, minimal competition and relative lower costs of entry for beginners, this dream will be real.

One thing that you can be sure about in this matter of offshore hosting is your privacy. Your privacy is the topmost priority of your service provider. In fact to protect your identity they allow you to buy your packages as an unnamed person. While most providers follow this scheme some will ask for minimum information so that receipt of your payment can be properly channeled. This security thus enables you to buy anything or upload anything that will not compromise the service provider’s use policy.

You need to carefully read the AUP for nay hosting purchase to be sure if your uploaded document is illegal or not. Some issues that are universally illegal and therefore banned are fake banking or investment sites, child pornography and terrorist-related sites. A few projects like online sports books should be evaded at all costs because, though they are illegal in some places, it is found on offshore hosting services.

Perfect conditions for offshore web hosting are faultless Internet access and minimum natural disasters. These conditions, tax friendly policies, and strict confidentiality laws make Panama perfect fro e-commerce as claimed by HostingPanama (hostingpanama.com). When I mention that here, shared hosting packages begin with $9.95 per month and dedicated servers with $149.00 per month, this gets further clarified.

Hong Kong is devoid of any barriers to trade and international institutions like Heritage Foundation and Fraser Institute of Canada add to this statement’s authenticity. Advantages like free entry of foreign capital and repatriation of earnings, easy procedures for starting enterprises and a minimum level of government interference are really favorable. With all these advantages, Hong Kong reminds us of Zentek International (zentek-international.com). With plans beginning with $14 per month for 1GB bandwidth and 50MB of storage, Zentek is there at your service with confidential sign up and private domain registration. It also endows you with offshore Web hosting, dedicated servers and colocation.

Other options are securehost.com (providing facilities in Kingston, Jamaica, Bahamas and Nassau) and shinjiru.com (on of the largest offshore dedicated server providers in Malaysia).

Benefits to be reaped off Hosting Offshore: Why would you in the entire world go for offshore hosting? Well just because it will help you to keep your data to yourself, therefore private, and will at the same time let you access international coverage opening up the doors of eternity for you.

Why is regular offshore hosting not as good as anonymous offshore hosting?

My confession is that even now offshore hosting companies prefer to have information regarding you intruding in your privacy. By this, you are also forced to use your credit card. The solution to this problem is Anonymous Hosting (Anonymous + Offshore = Total Freedom!).

What about the speed?

Speed is a factor that changes with location. Speed depends upon the place you are accessing the service from as well as upon the level of congestion in the internet at that time. You can however always take up the local bandwidth provided along with the international bandwidth that they offer. In this way you can initiate a sales channel in a local language at any time. Also speed will increase considerably if the clients are locally connected and vice versa so it will always benefit you if you choose local customers all the more.

Services of Offshore Hosting Outsourcing Companies

Quality is what you need to consider importantly notwithstanding the inexpensive quality of offshore web hosting as much as offshore dedicated servers. Usually, one prefers an offshore web hosting company endowing with all the needed services, not a part of the services at lower price. The customer service (24 hours a day) of such companies is definitely an advantage. Such service is needed in order to deal with clients all over the world. It also lets you put forward all your queries being a newcomer in the world of web hosting.

Hosting Offshore Company Conclusions

If we put it in an order, high-quality customer service and lower price are the advantages of offshore hosting companies. Next, start thinking about the demarcating line between cultures. The work ethic and mode of communication are also of paramount significance. Let me assure you that for the future development of your website, the communication has to be good. The success comes only if you are able to convey your needs properly and they can live up to your needs with a proper understanding. Herein lies the importance of proper communication. So, you have to think about the issue of work ethic and communication in an intense manner. It is largely responsible to let your website run swiftly.

Having taken everything into account, it can be said that the aspect of offshore outsourcing your web hosting, design and development needs can be beneficial for you only if it can provide you with all the services that you are in need of from the cheaper service. You also have to assure that you cover your bases.

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