#120 in the 2015 and #343 in the 2016 INC. 500 | 2016, 2017, & 2018 Best Place to Work in Idaho | Marketer of the Year | 24K Club Winner
06.19 208.297.5700 www.thenewsletterpro.com
As Seen On:
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Think Benefits and Outcomes THE RIGHT AND WRONG WAY TO GET MORE LEADS
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Changes Coming to Amazon Prime
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Client Success Take the Billionaire’s Advice 7 Strategies to Influence People’s Thoughts LeadQuizzes Is Revolutionizing Customer Analytics Meet Danielle Talbot Chobani: A Company With a Healthy Heart
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go, “You know what? I want to call and interview lawyers today.” Also, there aren’t many people who say, “I should order a new phone system today for my office.” When you advertise “get my phone system” or “I’m the best lawyer,” you may get a few people, but those are only the people who need to buy now. This is one reason why so much marketing fails. The failure had nothing to do with the media but everything to do with what was being offered. The funny thing is that when an offer fails, entrepreneurs almost always blame the media. That’s amateur hour stuff. The reason they blame the media is because they themselves came up with the offer, and heaven forbid the entrepreneur got it wrong. Most of our egos don’t allow that kind of thinking. Guess what happens next. The entrepreneur takes the same or similar offer, moves to the next media, and lo and behold, that doesn’t work either. Now I have my product-specific lead magnet, but how do I come up with another (not new) lead magnet that can attract people who are not aware that my newsletter may hold the solution to their issues?
Why doesn’t it make sense to offer a book on newsletter marketing to cold traffic?
I was speaking with a private client about a new marketing campaign he was putting together. He told me about the headline and lead magnet he was considering using, and it wasn’t good. I think lots of people misunderstand lead magnets and lead generation in general, so I figured I should give a breakdown here on the subject. I don’t plan on getting too far into the weeds here, so if you want to know if audio, video, or PDF is better, you’ll be disappointed. But if you want to better understand what will make someone respond so that you get more leads, this is the article for you. Most people create lead magnets simply based on what they do. If you’re getting this in the mail, you’ve likely also received my book “The Ultimate Guide to Newsletter Marketing.” That is a lead magnet based on what I do. Those are good, and you need them, but for most businesses, those types of lead magnets work best when you’re targeting a warm audience. If you were watching behind the scenes, you’d see that I mainly offer that kind of lead magnet on my website, after I speak at a webinar or event, or in my booth at an event. We’ve tried to offer it cold, but we had very limited results. I’m going to use my company, The Newsletter Pro, as an example.
“GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. The entrepreneur takes the same or similar offer, moves to the next media, AND LO AND BEHOLD, THAT DOESN’T WORK EITHER.” In my case, people don’t think they need a newsletter. It isn’t until they’re educated on all the benefits of communicating with customers and prospects that they’re interested in having a newsletter. All of that means that I need to make other types of offers in order to get someone into the funnel. The number of educated prospects out there is low, and this might be true for you, too. There’s not a ton of people who wake up each morning and
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To come up with the answer to this question, there are two things to consider. 1. What are the benefits of your product or service? For The Newsletter Pro, some of the benefits we offer are increased referrals, fewer lost customers, the ability to close more prospects, media that you own, the ability to upsell additional products and services, and so on. I could look at this list and decide that a lead magnet for getting more referrals may work, but why would that work better than a lead magnet on newsletters ? It’s simple! Most people are already educated on the value of generating more referrals, which means a larger number of people will opt in because of my lead magnet. If I can get them to opt in for the referral lead magnet and provide value while simultaneously educating them on the perks of newsletters, then over time, I can convert more of those leads into customers. See how I went upstream a bit there? Now, here’s the second consideration. 2. What outcomes do your customers get? Another way to come up with ideas for upstream lead magnets is to look at outcomes, then create a lead magnet around fixing one issue that moves people closer to their desired outcomes. If I switch examples and use phone systems (or, really, any other B2B company), I would create a lead magnet around the most effective ways to close more deals. My No. 1 most effective way of closing more deals is by recording calls. Of course, to get the outcome of more closed deals, you need to record calls, and to record calls, you need a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) phone system. Before you place a lead generation ad of any kind, you have to ask yourself, “Is the audience predisposed to buy whatever I’m selling?” If not, leading with the main thing won’t work well, at least in most cases. Instead, lead with the outcome or benefit and set up a system to educate, entertain, and delight the prospect. In short order, you’ll see more effective marketing. –Shaun Do you see how we can go upstream and get more people into the top of the funnel?
Before you place a lead generation ad of any kind, you have to ask yourself, “IS THE AUDIENCE PREDISPOSED TO BUY WHATEVER I’M SELLING?”
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BUSINESS HOW-TO MASSIVE CHANGES COMING TO AMAZON PRIME
THAT WILL INCREASE THEIR TAKEOVER OF THE WORLD!
Amazon recently announced that they’re making a massive change to Prime shipping.
Over the next few months, all Prime members will be upgraded from free two-day shipping to free next-day shipping. Amazon is expecting to spend $800 million in Q2 of this year alone to make the shift. Major retailers are in panic mode. Most have only recently caught up with free two-day shipping. Merchants who sell their wares via Amazon are going to become even more reliant on them, so if that is your game, you’re now all-in on Amazon, as it would be cost- prohibitive for any of us small fish to match free next-day shipping. “DON’T SIT BACK AND THINK THIS
of shit when he knocked on their door to partner, and now Blockbuster is out of business with only a single location remaining in Alaska. Don’t sit back and think this won’t touch you and your business. Amazon and many other online retailers are transforming the customer experience, and if you don’t act, you do so at your own peril. How do you start to change the customer experience? Start with the major holes. Where, what, or who are people complaining about? Where there’s smoke, there is almost always fire. What about your communication strategy? Are you still only calling/mailing or emailing customers when you want them to pay a bill or buy more of your products or services? If so, you need to change that now. Newsletters offer great opportunities to connect with your customers. (You can learn more by chatting with my team at Newsletterpro.com/ schedule) They’ll give you a custom roadmap for your business’s communication strategy when you call. I’ll leave you with this: I’m not telling you to do anything I’m not willing to do myself. I have an executive meeting later today with my team and on the agenda is this very topic and how we can improve our customer experience. You should have a similar meeting and take action so you don’t end up behind the eight ball. What could you do faster? How could you improve your phone skills and customer service training?
call-back time simply isn’t fast enough? How long until your 3–8-day ground shipping starts to generate complaints? How long until they realize the customer experience you provide isn’t up to par with what they expect and they start to look elsewhere?
As people get used to this new standard of service from Amazon, they’re going to expect more from you.
Think about it like this: When you get upgraded to a suite at a nice hotel or from coach to first class on your flight, you say things like, “I could get used to this.” Or think about Blockbuster versus Netflix. Can you imagine going back to $3.99 per day rentals and $3.99 late fees? Of course not! We’ve been shown a better way. As Amazon continues to improve its experience, it’s showing customers the better way. They’re training customers on how the customer experience should be. If your company falls too far from their standards, the customer will leave you for a competitor who can meet their expectations. It really is that simple. It may take a year or two for customer expectations to catch up, but it won’t take longer than that. That leaves you with a short window to adapt. Of course, you could think I’m full of shit and don’t know what I’m talking about. That has happened in the past. In fact, Blockbuster thought Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of Netflix, was full
WON’T TOUCH YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS.”
But how will this impact your business?
There are many ways you could feel this impact even if you’re a lawyer, dentist, or plumber and don’t sell online products. Once again, Amazon is redefining the customer experience and customer expectations. With 100 million households using Amazon multiple times per year, how long until your 24–48-hour returned
–Shaun
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MARKETING HOW-TO
CLIENT SUCCESS
“My February cover article was brilliant! One judge I sent my newsletter to actually called our office after reading it. She couldn’t get through the article without a good cry, it was that powerful. And my mother — whom the article was about — couldn’t drive home from the post office until she stopped sobbing. Dylan just does amazing work. His writing takes my spoken word to the next level and finds ways to convey the between- the-lines messaging that gets lost so often when I try to write the articles myself. Superior product and great results every single time. Thank you, Newsletter Pro. You certainly put the PRO into my newsletters.” –Lee Berlin, Berlin Law Firm
HOW TO GROW SALES AND THINK LIKE A BILLIONAIRE Lessons From Snacks for Troops
OUR BOOKSHELF
“The Newsletter Pro nailed month one of our new mover campaign. We’ve already gotten two new clients, and only 62 mailers have gone out! I love the new content! Literally, Dr. Elkins was laughing out loud! This was such a great approach. Thank you, guys, for always overdelivering! Amazing as always!” –Robin Spangler, Elkins Dental
7 Strategies to Subconscio AMINDREADER PSYCHOLOGIST
As humans, we often deal with that frustration with a battle of wits, using ethos (appeals to character), pathos (appeals to emotion), and logos (appeals to logic). By applying this rhetorical knowledge with principles from cognitive psychology, Nick Kolenda, author of “Methods of Persuasion: How to Use Psychology to Influence Human Behavior,” developed a unique way to subconsciously influence people’s thoughts. He starts the book with the claim that “Humans are marionettes.” He asserts that “Attached to each of us are sets of strings that, when pulled in a certain direction,
Ever since the fourth century B.C., philosophers have pondered the art of persuasion, and Aristotle’s “Rhetoric” is believed by many to be the first treatise to explore the innate human desire to seek the truth, regardless of the situation. Think about how frustrated or annoyed you are when you can’t find a solution to a problem or an answer to a question. It happens to everyone.
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An often overlooked area of marketing is how to increase the average transaction value of each customer. Many people only look for the low- hanging fruit. While you may be able to squeeze some extra profit out of the easy stuff, doing the easy stuff isn’t how you get home runs. Doing the easy stuff doesn’t make your dreams come true. Doing the easy stuff ultimately makes you exactly the same as your competitors, with price being the only factor that sets you apart. It is important to always be looking for unique ideas that you can adjust and bring to your business. When you see something cool in one industry, ask yourself if you could be doing something similar. This is how you get major breakthroughs. This is how you knock it out of the park. If you’re worried about copying or “stealing” someone’s idea, don’t be. This is how business is done. I once had a few drinks with a billionaire, and he shared some words of wisdom with me. “One of the ways billionaires become billionaires,” he said, “is by using all the good ideas they can find.” But for some reason, small businesses somehow feel this is unethical.
At an executive meeting, the CEO stated that they needed to increase their overall revenue. The executives started to discuss how best to increase the dollar amount of each transaction. The usual ideas started flowing: Change the product mix at check out, add new specialty products to the store’s mix, and offer a handful of really expensive items with free shipping as slack adjusters. Some of these ideas might have had an impact on average ticket sales, but compared to the promo they landed on, those ideas would have amounted to peanuts. Suddenly, someone in marketing said, “What if we offered our customers excess products that we would then donate to people in need?” Of course, there were a few naysayers, but by and large, the executive team was on board. The question then became, what charity? Would there be one that enough people were invested in to drive a significant increase in the average transaction size? Of course, the team talked about helping the homeless or hospitalized children. Then out of nowhere, someone suggests the troops. Like a spark hitting a puddle of gasoline, the whole room lit up. Of course, the American people can get behind the troops. Support for the U.S. military is always high. This idea eventually grew into one of the most profitable promotions the company has ever seen.
I travel by plane on a regular basis. I travel so much, in fact, that I have a routine for when I get to the Boise airport. Part of that routine involves going into the first store on the way to my gate, checking the temperature of the 1-liter bottles of water, and buying the coldest one I can find. Nearly every time I check out, I’m asked the same question: “Do you want to buy any jerky or peanuts to send to the troops?” I’ve seen this promo at dozens of airports over the years and have often marveled at the genius of its design. Last year, 1.7 million overpriced snacks were purchased and given to the USO, who then delivered the snacks to the troops. This promo has been running for years, and in 2017, the parent company of these stores broke the record for “most snacks purchased over 12 months.” If I had to make an educated guess about the origin of this promo, I would imagine it went something like this. Decoded, this question means, “Do you want to buy some of our overpriced snacks and donate them?”
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NDA ALK INTOABAR
Have You Heard the Good News?
sly Influence People’s Thoughts
Romans 8:28 — “ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Hebrews 12:11 — “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” 1 Peter 5:10 — “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.”
cognitive psychology to create a seven-step persuasion process that follows the acronym, METHODS: 1. Mold Their Perception, 2. Elicit Congruent Attitudes, 3. Trigger Social Pressure, 4. Habituate Your Message, 5. Optimize Your Message, 6. Drive Their Momentum, and 7. Sustain Their Compliance. Whether you’re trying to optimize your sales, expand clientele, encourage team members to embrace a new standard operating procedure, convince your kids that vegetables are delicious, or subtly convince your husband to pick up ice cream on the way home from work, “Methods of Persuasion” has some tips you can try!
guide our behavior without our awareness.” By applying his seven methods of persuasion, Kolenda claims that readers can ascertain the ability to control the strings of other human puppets, that they can “become a puppeteer in a world full of human marionettes.” While his authorial promise is certainly strong, Kolenda developed a “mind reading” stage show to demonstrate to millions of audiences his ability to subconsciously alter audience members’ mindsets, which he references throughout the book.
In addition to his experience serving as a “mind reader,” Kolenda deployed his knowledge of
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HOW TO $125,000 IN 24 HOURS
A Rockefeller Foundation survey found that 68% of customers leave a business because they feel the company is indifferent to them. When all you do is focus on selling and billing people and have zero efforts in the way of relationship building and nurturing, then those 68% who leave you are right. For example, we’re switching our IT company right now because the two people I had a good relationship with from that company have left and the new people seem to care less about our issues, despite them telling us we’re their largest customer. Since the new owners bought the company, they’ve done nothing to get to know us, except ask us to sign a new contract and spend more money with them. We’re signing a new agreement with a different company today.
Once you understand that concept, you’ll start to see that how you make people feel is far more important to making sales and reducing customer churn than just telling them the facts about your products or services. Customers and prospects will find the facts or data they need to justify their emotions and buy from you or leave based on those emotions.
I got a call last night from a friend looking for advice on a business deal. There was a piece of property that a friend of a friend wanted to buy at auction so they could develop it into five four-plex buildings. As the story went, they needed $125,000 to secure the property. If my friend contributed, he would own the deed to the property and have an interest in the four-plex. Of course, other people were bidding on this property, and they needed the money right now. Initially, my friend said okay to the deal and was going to wire $125,000. But, for a variety of reasons, he didn’t feel right about it. He called me to ask my advice and see if I wanted to join in on this investment. My PG-13 answer was “hell no.” It appears my buddy realized that moving this fast and sending that amount of money to people he didn’t know was a bad idea, and that’s what caused him to have second thoughts and call me. The funny thing is that in business, so many entrepreneurs make rash decisions about all kinds of ventures with even less info than my friend had. Some entrepreneurs will decide within 10 seconds whether or not they think a marketing strategy works. After that, they make purchases or cancel deals with little or no data behind the decision. What you have to know is that people (even us entrepreneurs) make decisions based on emotions and typically use logic and facts to justify those decisions afterward. My guess is that had he wired the money, he never would have seen it again.
Relationship building is optional; it just isn’t
-Shaun
optional if you want to be successful and rich.
P.S. I need to ask for a favor. We’re looking for a few good entrepreneurs who understand the value of building relationships with customers and prospects. If you can help me by introducing them to us, not only would I be grateful but you’d also have the chance to win a brand-new Tesla. Go to Newsletterpro.com/tesla , and on the site, you can register and let us know which of your friends we should send one of my books to on your behalf.
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The story of Uber and Lyft illustrates this idea well. The original founders of Lyft had tried to invest in Uber, but Uber wanted an even higher valuation than what was being offered. Even after negotiation, they couldn’t reach a deal. The investment group was not happy and quickly decided that someone was eventually going to compete with Uber, and it might as well be them. That is the day Lyft was created. If you haven’t used either app, they are virtually identical. Lyft is much smaller than Uber but based on the stock price when I wrote this article, the market cap of the company is $20 billion. They may not have gotten an investment deal in Uber, but I’m guessing they aren’t too upset about the deal as a whole. –Shaun
RESOURCE OF THE MONTH
LEADQUIZZES When you’re starting out in the business world, leads can seem hard to come by. Only when you realize how many modern resources are at your disposal will a clearer picture start to come into focus. A new era of consumer outreach is at our fingertips, allowing us to obtain new clients TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR LEADS
74 million questions answered, and nearly 5 million leads generated to date. And it doesn’t stop there. After you’ve designed your custom questionnaires for your websites, advertisements, or social media accounts, LeadQuizzes offers several ways to promote and drive traffic to your outreach methods. Your company’s future has never looked brighter. As if that wasn’t enough, by subscribing to their services, you will have exclusive access to detailed reports about your audience. You can analyze your potential leads and make more educated decisions on how to grow your business in the future. Even if you’re a multifaceted businessperson, you’re still in luck. Rather than having to create separate accounts for each business, this website allows you to manage your different brands and their respective analytics on one simple platform, taking a lot of weight off your shoulders. Whether you’re an established presence in your field or an early-stage entrepreneur, LeadQuizzes has the know-how to walk you through their revolutionary processes with ease. Leads have never been easier to come by.
without painstaking difficulty. Finding your ideal customers doesn’t have to cost you your sanity, especially when LeadQuizzes is around to help. The online service offers their clients the unique opportunity to create custom surveys and quizzes to send out to their potential leads. With their newfound consumer information in hand, companies are now able to quickly sift out the bad apples and find a larger pool of promising leads with the potential to translate to higher sales than ever before. As featured in Entrepreneur, NPR, and Inc. Magazine, this revolutionary resource has scores of customers singing its praises for the practical and intuitive programs it offers. They have an immense strength in numbers, boasting over 11,500 users,
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For the last year, the first thing many prospective clients hear when they’re introduced to The Newsletter Pro is the warm, optimistic voice of Danielle Talbot, our marketing coordinator. Danielle reaches out to prospective clients, learns about their goals, and gives them a crash course on newsletters. She’s been doing a great job, too, if we do say so ourselves. When Danielle decided to move to Idaho from Baker City, Oregon, her first mission was to find a good school for her daughter, Kendall. After that, she jumped into some heavy job hunting. Danielle even reached out to one of the few people she knew in Idaho, who happens to be our marketing consultant, Lauren (Lo) Stopher. Though Lo had only met Danielle a few times through a mutual friend, Danielle made a great impression. When the position of marketing coordinator at The Newsletter Pro happened to open up the next Danielle Talbot and the Power of Knowledge ALL THE WISER IN THE SPOTLIGHT
realize, now more than ever, that the more you know, the more you’ll grow. I’m not comfortable staying stagnant. Knowledge is power, and I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to learn whenever I want. It helps me become more aware, educated, and overall empowers me to create a better life for my daughter and me. There are a lot of things in my life I had to learn the hard way. By reading, listening to podcasts, or taking courses, I can learn without having to make those hard mistakes.” “Knowledge, to me, stimulates creativity and encourages taking chances on goals that once felt so far out of reach. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.”
day, Lo referred Danielle in a heartbeat. Right away, it was clear that she was the perfect fit.
“There’s a lot that goes into being a marketing coordinator,” Danielle says. “You have to adapt to different personalities, know how to communicate appropriately, and build trust with total strangers. It’s a challenging position, and I work hard to live up to the responsibility. I do weekly trainings with Dave Tester of Jon Carson Consulting and strive to learn more and do more for The Newsletter Pro.” Learning isn’t just something Danielle does at work. She is always ready to learn something about health, wellness, finances, or business.
Wise words from a wise woman.
“Any time I can, I’m listening to educational podcasts and striving to expand my knowledge. I
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If you’re looking for more great content — like what you’re reading in this newsletter — to drive your business forward, take a look at these articles on our blog. The Best Referral Marketing Strategy for Any Business: Referral Partners NewsletterPro.com/best-referral-marketing/ 2 Golden Rules for Great Customer Service NewsletterPro.com/2-golden-rules/ Help! I’m Stuck and Don’t Know What to Do! NewsletterPro.com/stuck/ Build Your Brand and Watch Your Business Crush It NewsletterPro.com/build-your-brand-and- crush-it/
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BUSINESS PROFILE
Proves That It Pays to Do Things the Right Way THE SUCCESS OF CHOBANI
stuff’s used to kill bugs,” said one ad about potassium sorbate. The message was clear: Chobani isn’t going to cut corners to make a cheaper or lower calorie product that isn’t actually any healthier. “We’re empowering consumers with facts and information to help them make more informed decisions,” Peter McGuinness, Chobani’s chief marketing and brand officer, told the Washington Post about the campaign. Needless to say, the big boys weren’t too happy about this gloves-off strategy. Not that Chobani much cared. Their CEO, Hamdi Ulukaya, has stated from day one that the company will never be sold to a larger food company. Recently, Chobani has introduced new product lines that embody their healthy, natural approach. They have A Hint of Flavor yogurt options, which use less sugar, and Savor, a sour cream designed to be an alternative, the same way the yogurt is. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE PRODUCT You would think making people healthier would be a noble enough goal in itself, but that’s far from the company’s only altruistic initiative. Their focus on doing things the right way extends to every aspect of their business.
Take the way Chobani treats its employees. Roughly 30 percent of the company’s employees are resettled refugees. They champion inclusion and diversity. If that weren’t enough, Ulukaya created a nonprofit, the Tent Foundation, dedicated to helping other corporate leaders develop programs to help refugees. Another way Chobani is helping others is through its in-house incubator. Through this program, the company provides funding to food companies who want to create healthier food options. Perhaps most impressive, though, is what Ulukaya did for his own employees in 2016. That April, he divested 10 percent of the company to his staff, providing them with hundreds of millions in shares. Talk about investing in your people. THE TIDES OF CHANGE It’s no secret that environmentally conscious and healthy choices are important to today’s consumers. Companies like Patagonia, REI, and Chobani are paving the way when it comes to making ethics front and center in the minds of customers. In turn, those customers become brand advocates and raving fans. Take a look at your company and start to think about ways you can give back and differentiate yourself from others. You may not be able to create an incubator of your own, but there’s definitely a way to do more in your community. You can even follow the lead of Ulukaya himself. “Whatever I see in the world that discourages me,” he says, “I answer with Chobani.”
Not long ago, the yogurt section of your local grocery store was stocked with the same three or four mega brands. Today, there are a lot more options. This transformation is largely due to the success and influence of Chobani, the company that started the Greek yogurt revolution. But, their growth isn’t just due to offering a better product; it’s the result of a purpose-based approach and an employee-focused business model. A HEALTHIER WORLD, ONE CUP AT A TIME Chobani’s statement of purpose details the entire scope of the company’s program. It reads as follows: Our purpose is to make universal wellness happen sooner. We’re totally and deeply committed to playing an active role in transforming our food system for the betterment of our planet, our people, and our communities. Real change. Not just “checking the box.” Chobani stands in stark contrast to other food brands who put the bottom line ahead of their customer’s waistlines. They aren’t afraid to take their competitors to task for their less-than-natural products. In a 2016 ad campaign, they blasted established players like Dannon and Yoplait for using chemical additives in their products. “That
Now that his company is worth billions of dollars, expect even more answers in the future.
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