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By:  D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO

 

One thing is certain; advisors are under utilizing their websites.  This is a consistent theme borne out in study after study on advisors website utilization habits.

Marketing has changed dramatically over the past several years and that applies to advisors website marketing as well.  The biggest change we see is the change in prospect and customer behavior; they want to be engaged.  No, they demand to be engaged.  And, they want to be engaged on their terms with content that is relevant to them and their needs.  Simply put, that means if they are interested in equity type products, they want information on equity products, not fixed income.

Compound these new “customer rights” demands with advisors inability to convert more of their website traffic to clients and you have the recipe for frustration for both parties.  Perhaps by examining some of the available data on website visitation behaviors we can shed a little light on this low conversion rate phenomenon advisors are experiencing and how to improve these numbers.

First, engaging, acquiring and retaining clients online is a challenging business.  Available studies suggest that 95-97% of website visitors are not sales ready.  Even on pure retail websites such as Amazon, 90% of the time site visitors leave without making a purchase or providing additional information.  In fact, prospects will interact with your site 5.5 times on average before they download something or contact you directly.  Only 2-3% of websites earn the confidence of the visitor to the point where they identify themselves on the first visit.  The good news, over a two-year period 70% of those initial visitors will convert to clients, provided you have nurtured them and stayed in front of them along the way.

Here’s the struggle.  Advisors know they have website traffic because their website analytics package tells them they had website traffic.  The problem is your website visitors know more about you then you know about them at this point. You created the website, you invited them in, you told them about you, your firm and what you do, and didn’t even ask them to introduce themselves.

Smart marketers and advisors are no longer sitting back and hoping that these visitors convert to clients.  They are beginning to leverage segment-based automated marketing technology, which allows them to listen to prospects and keep the conversation relevant.  They are aggressively implementing website visitor identification strategies and are embracing the ability to nurture, score, track and provide alerts on countless behavioral factors, in any combination based on their needs.

This is all being done for the express purpose of engaging prospects and converting them to clients.  Advisors are realizing that in order to bring visitors to their website and more importantly convert them to clients they have to leverage the combination of content, calls-to-action, multiple sources of engagement through blogs, thought leadership pieces and defining next steps to accomplish this.

 

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By:  D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO

Today’s news coverage says it all: words like “plunging stocks,” “massive volatility,” “lowest levels,” “looming recession,” “double dip,” and “rout” are liberally peppered throughout much of the media.

In this environment, it doesn’t take long for the pundits and talking heads to start discussing what an advisor should be saying to his or her clients. It comes with the turf, and is certainly no surprise. Because the fact is, as your clients struggle to make sense of a situation they can’t control or comprehend, they will increasingly turn to you for context, calm and comfort. You need to communicate with them clearly and unequivocally. That’s why I recommend that you make the following five pointers the guideposts of your “crisis mode” communications (they’re good everyday pointers, too, regardless of a “meltdown”).

1.) Pick up the phone.

As obvious as this one is, it’s often neglected. There will be a leading research report issued within a few months that states that more than 40% of clients are not being contacted during the crisis that has followed the S&P credit downgrade. We’ve seen this type of inattention before. It happened in 1999-2001, 2008, and it’s happening this time as well. And there are additional research figures, too: 40% of clients state they would change advisors if they received a call from a new advisor asking them to move their business.

2.) Ask your clients about their concerns
.

Needless to say, the purpose of this question is not to increase AUM for your firm. Rather, it’s to deepen your relationship with your client and to continue to establish yourself as their trusted advisor. You need to know what makes them tick, and there’s no better time to get a read on them than at a time of crisis and volatility.

3.) Reinforce your strategy.

Your clients have entrusted you to help them achieve certain short- and long-term financial goals. Let them know what form your strategy — indeed, your vision — is taking. And by the way, if there ever was a good time to remove the ticker tapes – oops showing my age – stock quotes from your website, this is it. When clients visit your site and view all the red flashing numbers, they’re not getting the impression that your firm stands for good advice and planning.

4.) Put the markets into context for your clients.

Sure, it’s easy for clients to panic now. That’s why, as you reinforce your strategy, you’ll also want to put the markets into context. While it’s true that the US downgrade is probably a once-in-a-lifetime event for all of us, we have all seen extreme volatility before. Have a discussion with your clients about how their portfolio has been constructed to achieve certain long-term goals. Likewise for those clients with shorter time horizons as well.

5.) Warn about the “too-good-to-be-true” promises that proliferate during a crisis.

Here in the post-Madoff era, it’s especially important to communicate with your clients. Let them know to beware of promises that “guarantee” them:

  • Unusually Attractive Returns. This is an old but effective tactic. During a time when clients have seen their portfolios erode by 30%, 40%, or 50%, these promised returns begin to look very attractive. Think Allen Stanford’s high interest rate CD’s.
  • Unusually Steady Returns. Classic Madoff…with steady and consistent returns “assured” over a long period of time. If the current situation has taught us anything, it’s that investment returns fluctuate!

Not talking to your clients? Someone else is! Today’s clients are baffled, confused and in some cases irrational as they struggle with the events of the past two weeks. They need to hear from you. Because one thing is for sure: if you’re not talking with your clients, someone else is. In today’s connected world, I can safely say that they’re receiving solicitations from other advisors and/or researching the web for answers.

To summarize: in our new, wired world — in a time of acute market uncertainty — it’s your responsibility to call, ascertain concerns, reinforce strategy, put today’s events into context, and protect clients from false promises (and from themselves).

 

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By D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO

At Advisolocity we have had the privilege of designing and re-purposing our fair share of advisor websites.  One thing we have never understood is why advisors view their website as a “set it and forget it” proposition.  I’m sorry but a lighthouse, a sailboat and an older couple walking hand-in-hand on the beach does not a website make.

We encourage advisors to view their website as what might possibly be the hardest working piece of equipment in their office.  Think about the impact your website has on your business: it’s the only employee you have that works 24-7 telling all those who visit about you, your firm and your differentiating proposition.  Your website never asks for a day-off, never calls in sick, and doesn’t require benefits.  Yet, you don’t treat it as the integral part of the team that it is.

It is your firm’s face to the world.  In a nanosecond, which is faster then a Malcolm Gladwell Blink, visitors to your site are making stay, go, ask for more information or never return here again decisions.  We have a rule: in 10 seconds your website visitor has to be engaged.  Within three clicks they need to be able to download white papers, e-books, commentary or whatever your value proposition might be.

Visitors to your website have severe Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  If you can’t make it simple, make it informative and make sure you tell them how you can help them within the time it took you to read this sentence, their gone.  This is the age of engagement and if your website doesn’t engage your visitors will look elsewhere for engagement.

So what are some of the ways advisors turn their websites into their own worst enemies?

  1. Advisor sites are disruptive.  Banner ads, pop-ups, graphics and video may have their place on your website but in moderation.  If a first-time visitor is greeted with a video espousing the virtues of equities and has never purchased an equity product in their life you’ve lost them.  Inform and engage your visitors and you won’t distract them.
  2. We don’t want you here. That’s the message advisor website send when they encourage visitors to click on a link to read another article, visit another website or visit a resource center other than yours.   We see it all the time.  Second sentence, instructions are to click this link for additional information, they do, and guest what – they’re gone, never to be heard from again!
  3. Most resource centers are like belly buttons – everyone has one! Next time you are reviewing websites count the number that brag about providing access to a set of valuable resources – WSJ, Business Week, Forbes, etc.  What’s unique about that?  In the state of Oklahoma there are 180 RIAs listed. 160 have websites and 40 of those have the same resource center.  Not only does this not add value, again you are inviting the visitor to leave your site.
  4. Advisor sites have their own secret code. I can’t count the number of times we review a site that has programming code leaking through the pages.  Not only does this look unprofessional but also what kind of message does that send to the visitor?  Detailed oriented?  Thorough?
  5. Stock quotes 24/7. Ask yourself, are you a trader or an advisor?  The vast majority will answer advisor so why provide up to the minute information on individual stocks on your website.  You never refer to it.  Your clients don’t use.   So why make it available to “looky lou’s” – those who spend all their time looking and have no intention of retaining your services.
  6. Lack of analytical tools. For an industry that is so measurement oriented it never ceases to amaze us that advisor websites don’t have any analytics attached to them.  At a minimum get Google Analytics so you can at least tell how many visited your site, where they came from and what interested them.

Contrary to popular belief this is rocket science!

Please join us on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 3:00 pm EDT where at the invitation of ProducersWEB we will host a web chat (#prowebchat) to discuss these and other mistakes advisors make with their websites.

 


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By: D. Bruce Johnston, President & CEO, DBJ Associates

Today, with more and more firms evaluating and entering into social media, it stands to reason that FINRA & SEC rules governing social media and archiving solutions will play a bigger role in the professional lives of Financial Advisors and Advisors. In fact, you may be feeling enormous pressure right now to begin leveraging social media in your practice. That’s because an increasing number of clients are demanding that their financial advisors communicate with them through some form of social media—and it is, after all, a client’s prerogative as to how they’d like to receive their communications.

That said, when you’re enlisting the services of a social media archiving provider, there are five essential questions you must ask. These questions will let you know whether the provider offers all the “must haves” that are necessary to do the job right.

1. Can the provider archive, supervise and make communications discoverable?

Of course, by now advisors understand that the definitive source of FINRA guidance on Social Media Web Sites is Regulatory Notice 10-06, published in January 2010.  In this document, FINRA made it clear that online communications, including of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, are the same as traditional written communications.  Meaning, the appropriate action for this content is that it needs to be archived, supervised and made discoverable.

2. What about the provider’s pre-review and approval capabilities?

Regulatory Notice 10-06 also provided guidance on:

  • Websites – considered advertisements
  • Communications sent to 25 or more prospective customers – sales literature
  • Password-protected websites – sales literature
  • Chat room discussions – public appearances

Additionally, there are NASD Rule 3010, which addresses a firm’s supervisory obligation to review correspondence; and NASD Rule 2210, which addresses a firm’s advertisement pre-review and approval obligations.

In order to satisfy these rules, archiving providers have developed several solutions that are currently available in the marketplace. You’ll find that most archiving providers offer these solutions, and can effectively assist FINRA-regulated clients in meeting their supervisory obligations to review correspondence under NASD Rule 3010.

3. Does the provider have hold and release functionality?

Furthermore, most of the available solutions have built-in hold and release functionality for the social media accounts of associated persons who are already set-up in your system. This capability enables your business to meet its advertisement pre-review and approval obligation under NASD Rule 2210 (b). Make sure your provider is up to speed.

4. Do they have surveillance and retention of data capabilities?

There has been a lot of discussion lately around two elements—surveillance and retention of data.  Today’s solution providers have built product features that act as surveillance tools, monitoring any use of an associated person’s social media accounts wherever the account is accessed.  These features are a “must have” if your firm wants the ability to identify non-compliance via activities that are prohibited in their social media policy. For example, what about unapproved updates to profiles or recommendations (testimonials) on LinkedIn sites that have occurred outside of the broker/dealer’s distributed technology? Surveillance and retention are essential if you are to prevent regulatory “surprises”.

5. Can providers handle the specific demands put on RIAs?

RIAs have their own set of regulations, SEC Rule 17a-4, that have requirements for indexing, time stamping and verification functionality.  Solutions providers are aware of these rules and have solution sets in place to accommodate them.

With these five “must haves,” it’s important to note that the most compelling fact is not that archiving solutions enable firms to monitor activity that is prohibited. Rather, it’s the fact that these solutions enable FAs and Advisors to empower their businesses to leverage social media. The shift is on; it’s a move from a reactive, prohibition-based environment to one that is proactive and consultative to your customers.

Through this new set of lenses, it’s possible for your business to construct a meaningful social media policy; design strategies and tactics that advocate your brand; and enable you to engage with customers, peers and prospects. These actions result not only in building new awareness for your brand and business, but also in extending and constructing new relationships as well as new revenue opportunities.

Social media is here and not just a fad.  Using the appropriate social media archiving solutions can bring the power of “social” to the forefront of your business.

 

 

 

 

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Will money managers soon be showing their customers more love?

With pressures from outside the industry, most notably from banks, I believe the answer is a resounding “yes.”

My view is as the customer service benchmark is being raised outside of the industry, money managers too will find themselves held to a higher standard by investors and advisors.

Part of the pressure is coming from the rise of mobile technology, especially the sudden ubiquity of iPads, and this weeks introduction of the new iPad2 which are conditioning people to expect instant access to information 24/7.    

Such initiatives are not unknown in investment distribution. It’s something asset managers have been trying to teach through value-add programs — to be more sensitive to the clients’ needs as I mentioned in a recent Hannah Glover article for Ignites.  It’s time for asset managers to apply the same standards to both advisors and investors.

As firms study and adapt to the new world of enhanced customer service, they should not overlook creative and cost-efficient solutions that are close at hand; especially social media blogs and networks that offer financial marketers a convenient and inexpensive way to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

To gain a basic knowledge of how you and your firm might begin to understand this social media phenomenon better I invite you to download an Introduction to Social Media which I co-authored with Jeffrey Young from Huntington Bank.

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For the past 19 years, Charles Schwab & Co, Inc. annual conference, IMPACT, has been bringing relevant presenters, exhibitors, subject-matter experts and advisors together in a conference to help keep Schwab clients and partners ahead of an ever-changing curve.

This year, in order to give my reader’s a little insight into what’s going on inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, site of the conference, I am providing readers of my blog with selected tweets, sent from those inside the convention.  I have attempted to line-up the tweets with the agenda presentation they pertain to.

As a special thank you for reading this far I thought I would bring you this video of Tom Lydon on CNBC Live from SchwabIMPACT discussing ETFs.

IMPACT 2010 kicked off last night with Mellody Hobson, president, Ariel Investments, Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., and Maria Bartiromo, Anchor of CNBC’s Closing Bell, on a panel discussing the theme: Outlook 2011: Investors, the Markets and the Economy.

Tweets:

DBJAssociates D. Bruce JohnstonFrom @RIABiz: 6 things to know about Schwab Advisor Services on the eve of its IMPACT 2010 … http://riabiz.com/a/2992001 #Schwab4RIAs

DBJAssociates D. Bruce Johnston From @RIABiz: Mellody Hobson and Liz Ann Sonders kicked off IMPACT on a bullish note http://riabiz.com/a/3007042 #SchwabIMPACT

Wednesday Morning – October 27, 2010

Here’s how the morning got started:

DannymJohnson Danny Johnson Hide yo’ kids, Hide yo’ wives, and hide yo’ husbands too. Paulson about to address the #SchwabIMPACT crowd. Run and tell that….#dobson

In a conversation with Liz Ann Sonders, Henry M. Paulson, Jr., will provide his insight into what really happened in Washington D.C. in the fall of 2008. Now that he’s a private citizen and has published a book about the administration’s response to the financial crisis, On the Brink, he and Ms. Sonders will discuss the meetings, controversies, rapid decisions and extraordinary people involved. Find out how and why they did what they did.

Tweets:

Schwab4RIAs Schwab4RIAs Liz Ann Sonders is now interviewing Hank Paulson. #SchwabIMPACT

rogergward Roger Ward Paulson-Fannie and Freddie were elephants too big for the tent. #schwabimpact

RJPIII Robert Powell At #SchwabImpact 2010…Paulson said BearStearns was “too interconnected” to fail and had a buyer…Lehman Brothers had no buyer

Wednesday Afternoon – October 27, 2010

Greg Valliere, Chief Political Strategist, Potomac Research Group, will give us his mid-term election predictions and discuss how the results could affect tax and regulatory policies that are being developed in Washington D.C. right now. You know him, you love him and you won’t want to miss his presentation.

melissabmurphy Melissa Murphy Potomac Research Group’s Valliere: tax cut extension likely for everyone #schwabimpact

amyrill Amy Hayes Stellhorn Greg Valliere “it’s likely that we will get (Bush) tax cuts for everyone extended” #SchwabIMPACT

amyrill Amy Hayes Stellhorn Valliere: Things to worry about 1) Red Ink (deficit) 2) Fundamental Radical Islam (Pakistan, Iran, War in Afghanistan) #SchwabIMPACT

melissabmurphy Melissa Murphy Valliere: deficit with stay high for next two or three years and bond market couldn’t care less. #schwabimpact

tsollinger Travis Sollinger Greg Valliere hits another one out of the park at #SchwabIMPACT Great talk!

Tweets of Interest

AdvisorTweets AdvisorTweets We’ll be watching the #SchwabIMPACT tweets: RT @Schwab4RIAs: Jim McCool: More than 1600 independent investment advisors here today.

BillWinterberg Bill Winterberg CFP® Junxure, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics Are The First Schwab Intelligent Integration Partners http://bit.ly/aDaV3A #SchwabIMPACT

NexusStrategy Tim Welsh salesforce.com, Junxure, Microsoft are CRMs chosen for Schwab Intelligent integration #SchwabIMPACT

RIABiz RIABiz Schwab announces the three CRM vendors it will integrate first: Junxure, Salesforce.com, Microsoft #SchwabIMPACT

JCPR JCPR CNBC: What Pros Say: Hedge And Look For Alternatives #SchwabIMPACT http://www.cnbc.com/id/39868914

Gonna Have Some Fun Tweet

shorespeak Rob Shore At #SchwabIMPACT. Met 300+ wholesalers & passed out I Carry The Bag. Tonight is meet-up at Lucky’s.

I hope you liked this peek behind the scenes at Schwab and the opportunity to see it through the eyes of Twitter.  Should I do it tomorrow?

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What is 174 pages, calls for two sub-parts, one part calling for 18 different disclosures, and will take firms 15 to 60 hours to complete with cost estimates ranging from $3,000 to $10,000?

Clarity vs. confusion with Form ADV-2

It’s nothing less than the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Form ADV Part 2.

Emerging from the confusion surrounding the new rule, two things are certain:

  • Both state-registered and SEC registered advisors will have to fill out the new ADV form Part 2
  • The form is no longer a check-the-box exercise and requires strict adherence to a plain English standard

Tripping over the details

Yes, Part 2A requires narrative brochures about an advisory firm and Part 2B requires brochure supplements containing information about certain supervised persons. How is all of this supposed to be written in plain English under such a short deadline?

Though challenging, there are several sources available for guidance. Readers of RIABiz can access recent articles by Brooke Southall and Les Abromovitz, which provide practical suggestions on how one should handle various aspects of the New Form ADV Part Two.

Investment News reporter Lisa Shidler addressed RIA concerns in her article “New Form ADV-2 adding costs, confusion” detailing important sources of advisor frustrations.

Looking for answers

Advisors have a chance to listen to an overview of the new Form ADV Part 2 sponsored by Huntington Asset Services on December 1, 2010.  The webinar will include a discussion of plain English, as well as practical drafting tips, and delivery, filing and updating requirements. The webinar is available at no cost.

Although fraught with challenge, a well-written brochure can also become an effective and compliant marketing tool to serve as the foundation for a firm’s future marketing initiatives. That is why advisors should learn as much as they can about the ADV Part 2 requirements and seek out trusted experts for assistance. Financial writers like John Drachman and others have extensive experience in crafting plain English narratives for an RIA’s products and services.

Also, to facilitate and guide the discussions about the new rule, DBJ Associates recently launched RIA Forum on SEC Form ADV Part 2. Interested readers are invited to join the group and weigh in.

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Discover how to complement your lead generation efforts with social media’s powerful contact capture techniques

Join us tomorrow on the BrightTalk channel at 1pm EST


Easy-to-use, low-cost social media programs are helping smaller fund managers and advisors stand out in a crowded market.

Advisolocity’s John Drachman and Zach Hedges open their social media case book tomorrow to show you how increasing numbers of investment professionals are putting the Internet to work by establishing fresh thought leadership themes, expanding their presence and measuring the results.

Join us at BrightTalk to reserve your place, August 24, 2010 at 1pm EST.  Please cut and paste to your browser: http://academy.brighttalk.com/best-practices/where-social-media-meets-client-acquisition.html

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Advisolocity a Transformational Distribution Resource Needs Your Help

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By:  D. Bruce Johnston, President, DBJ Associates

Over the past year, we have talked about the transformations taking place in investment distribution. 

I am certain you are viewing first-hand one of the major changes in wealth management – the shift of resources from traditional marketing to social media and networking. 

This resource shift is sure to accelerate as marketers and compliance officers now find common agreement. The release of FINRA’s 10-06 ruling has removed the last impediment to utilizing the cost-efficiencies and creativity of social media programs. A new social media marketing compliance lore will soon be coming into existence.

I’m pleased to announce that my colleagues and I are almost ready to launch our new site – Advisolocity.

Advisolocity is a transformational distribution resource designed for this present moment. Advisolocity – which stands for advisor velocity – is a collaboration of creative marketers, investment distributors, as well as social media and technology specialists.

Advisolocity is dedicated to supporting the business development efforts of advisors, money managers and other service providers who are endeavoring to attract and retain a greater share of investment assets.

Your comments to me have proven invaluable in the past and I would welcome a chance to ask your opinion of our exciting new effort. Here are two of our sample pages:

As a way of saying thank you for your time and comments I would like to provide you a copy of our latest white paper:  “One-2-One: How social media will allow you to conduct a thousand conversations at the same time”.  You can register and receive the white paper by clicking here: http://bit.ly/a4FiM9  If you prefer and would rather not go through the registration process – we are concerned about protecting your privacy – send me a request at: bruce@dbjassociates.com 

Thanks for your help and we look forward to your comments.

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How are RIAs approaching social media?

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By:  D. Bruce Johnston, President, DBJ Associates

With hope and fear. If they can publish a few blog posts, advisors can extend the life of a public relations story nearly effortlessly. With social media and its ability to generate attention inexpensively, it’s hard not to consider it.

 The difficulty comes in when you ask an RIA what they are willing to pay for it. An RIA must opt for at least a minimal, consistent effort to communicate their subject matter expertise to their prospects.

So, while the vehicles underlying all that publicity are almost free, the talent to assemble content and distribute it is not.

And that’s the rub: RIAs need to make a commitment to reach out and sustain an effort to attract new prospects into their loop. Whether an RIA is ready to take the deep dive into social media, he or she needs to answer four questions.

 

  1. Do I like the idea of using nearly free marketing tools to attract prospective clients? This one is easy: “Yes.”
  2. Should I “do-it-myself” — or recruit professionals to help me? The RIA must decide whether they want to take time away from client-facing activity to master the web’s ins and outs. Caveat: Do-it-yourself errors can be a deal breaker.
  3. Am I committed to spending some money? RIAs don’t have to commit to hefty retainers, but they do need to commit  somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000 initially to dedicate to professional resources.
  4. Am I willing to experiment a bit, journey into unknown territory?  I have found that this is the most important question for advisors to answer. An experimental sense of social media’s possibilities is the key. There is no locked in blueprint for how to proceed. Social media strategies are a trip through a new frontier; the efforts are flexible, motivational and engaging when done well. And, if you make a mistake, they are pretty easy to correct.

 

Why is it that a prospect who won’t return an advisor’s phone call won’t hesitate to connect with that advisor on LinkedIn? Why is it that a prospect will unsubscribe from an advisor’s newsletter and then immediately start following that same person on Twitter?

I think it’s a matter of control: individuals like to pick and choose what they want from a service provider and who they want to have a conversation with — and that includes RIAs.

But advisors cannot join the conversation if their potential prospects don’t know where to find them.

 

 

 

 

  

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