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Objection Heard
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Acknowledge and/or
clarify you understand the objection. When acknowledging an objection, demonstrate
empathy for your customer in the tone of your voice
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Rebuttal(s)
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“Send me your information”
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"I'm sorry, clearly
you must have some questions that I have yet to answer."
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"I would be more than
happy to answer them for you now while we are on the phone."
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“Send me your information”
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"I'm happy to hear
that you're interested in learning more about our service offerings."
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"What specifically are
you interested in learning more about?"
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“Send me your information”
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"I'm sorry Mr. customer,
it sounds like you have some questions that I have yet to answer. I can appreciate
your need for additional information regarding our services. "
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"Personally, I think
our marketing materials create more questions than they answer. What specifically is it you would
like to know?" Answer their questions and make it a conversation.
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“Send me your information”
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"I'm sorry, sometimes
I get a little ahead of myself. It
sounds like you would need to know a little about us before making any sort
of decision which is certainly understandable."
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"Mr. Prospect, I don’t even know if it even makes sense for me to send you
our marketing materials because I don’t know if we would even be a fit to work together. I’ll be honest, we are not a fit for every company. Can I make a suggestion? Could we take 2 minutes to learn a
little more about each other to determine if it even makes sense for me to
share our information with you?" Go into your
questions to qualify.
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“Send me your information”
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"Thank you for your
interest in our company Mr. Prospect. I for one can understand and appreciate
your need for getting our information on file for your records."
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Mr. Prospect, as you can
imagine, being in sales I get a lot of prospective customers who ask me each
day to send them my marketing materials. However, I’ve come to realize that most of the time when
people are requesting our information they are doing it as a nice &
polite way to end the call because they don’t want to hurt my feelings by
telling me they’re not interested.
I won’t be offended if you tell me you’re not interested or there is
not an opportunity for you and I to work together. Is this the case with your or are you sincerely interested
in learning more about how we might do business together?" This is
a great example of responding to the prospect by saying the opposite of what
they expect to hear. 99 out of
100 prospects will tell you they are sincerely interested in working with you
which puts them on the hook. It forces them to either tell you flat out they
are not interested or that they are indeed interested in working with you. You will know exactly where you stand
with the prospect after this rebuttal.
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“I reviewed/received
your information and I don’t see a fit”
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"I'm sorry to hear
that and do appreciate your honest and candid feedback. If you don't mind, may I ask you a few
research oriented questions?"
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"What specifically is
it that you are looking for in an IT services partnership?" "What
did you see that turned you off?"
Before you ever send information you should
first qualify what they are looking for and expecting to avoid this objection.
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“I reviewed/received
your information and I don’t see a fit”
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"I'm sorry to hear
that but do appreciate your honest and candid feedback. If you don't mind, may
I ask you a few research oriented questions?
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"What specifically did
you read in the materials that led you to that conclusion?" "Where specifically do feel we
are not a fit?" "What sort of firms do you
currently work with?"
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“I reviewed/received
your information and I don’t see a fit”
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"I’m sorry to hear
that. I wonder where or how we
misunderstood each other."
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When we spoke you
indicated….(restate what the customer said they need
in a IT staffing partner and how it aligns with your company/service
offerings)
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“I reviewed/received
your information and I don’t see a fit”
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"I’m sorry to hear
that. I wonder where or how we
misunderstood each other."
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"I’m sorry to hear to
hear that but I certainly understand.
But I also know that it’s simply impossible for any one vendor to meet
all the IT staffing demands of a customer and keep them happy. What needs do you have that your
current suppliers either can’t meet or struggle fulfill?"
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“No budget/no projects, not hiring”
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"I can
certainly understand and appreciate that. We hear that often from our
customers as well."
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Instead of hoping
the customer doesn’t bring up this objection in our discussion, WE
should actually bring it up and address it head on, on our terms. Here is how you do it. See below.
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“No budget/no projects, not hiring”
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After exchanging
pleasantries. “So Mr. Prospect,
let me guess, do you face the same situation many of my other customers face
in that they have no budget and currently cannot hire consultants or full
time help?" After they say "yes, that is the case with us
too" we say…"Great, now that we understand each other and
have set expectations, let’s change gears for a second. Tell me about some of
the key projects you’re currently working on." The
goal here is to get to the pain. If there is no pre-defined/budget-approved
job order you have to get to the pain.
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“No budget/no projects, not hiring”
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"I can
certainly understand and appreciate that. We hear that often from our
customers as well."
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"If you had budget and
I know you don’t because you just told me you don’t, what would you spend it
on? What problem(s) would you fix? Why is that important?"
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"You have to talk to Joe Process in our HR Department"
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"I understand and can
certainly appreciate the value of HR and the important policies and
procedures they implement. May I
ask a couple of clarifying questions?"
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Addressing this
objection requires asking a number of different drill-down qualifying
questions in order to get to the heart of the real objection (if there even
is one). This is often just a blow off more than a real objection.
"What exactly is Joe's
role in the process of selecting the IT staffing services organizations that
you use? What is your role in
the actual interview and hiring process of IT consultants? Do you communicate with the vendors
directly or does Joe manage that entire process? Do the managers select the vendors and Joe manages the
list or does Joe actually qualify the vendors?" If the answer
is yes than ask "really, how has that been working out for
you?" "Who owns the relationship with the vendors, Joe in HR or the
actual hiring managers?"
What happens if you have a vendor that you would like to work with
such as myself but they are not on the list, what happens then?" Does Joe also select and manage the
bench based system integrators like IBM, Keane or Accenture because that is who
we often compete against and we normally work direct with the CIO or his/her
hiring managers?" What if
you and I determined that there is a fit to work together and that you did
want to do business with my company, how would we make that happen?"
"What steps would we need to take?"
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"Are you an approved vendor?"
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"I'm not sure, can you
explain to me what it means to be an approved vendor?" Often times,
by simply asking this question (because vendors normally never ask this) you
will discover that there is nothing a vendor does to become
"approved." It's just
another blow-off. "What
is the process to become an approved vendor?" "Have you ever seen
the actual list?" "Who
is currently on the list and how did your current vendors get the approval
status?" "How do you
measure or benchmark your approved vendors? Who measures them and how often
does it take place?" How satisfied are you with your current approved
vendors?"
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"Do you have a contract or MSA in
place with us?
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"I don't. and in fact,
at this stage I don't know that it even makes sense for us to discuss
contracts because I don't know if we would even be a fit to work together. We
are not a fit for every customer. I'm simply interested in having an
introductory conversation to determine if our organization's share the same
values and if our experience and service offerings align with your goals and
objectives. Does making those
determinations seem like a reasonable first step?" "What types of
vendors does your organization partner with, bench-based system integrations
like IBM, Accenture or CSC or do you prefer to own and drive your own
projects and thus work with IT staffing or professional services
organizations to augment your full-time staff?" We
want to find out who we are competing against before we can properly position
ourselves. "What is typically the process for a vendor to get an
MSA in place?" What if you
and I were to establish a relationship and you had a project in which you
felt I could assist you with.
Would you be able to help put the contract in place?" Your goal
should not be to get a contract in place on the initial cold call. Think long
term, don't just go for the immediate transaction.
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"I don't have time"
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"I can
certainly understand and appreciate the value of your time.
Or
"I can
certainly understand and appreciate the value of your time.
which is why,
if you allow me, I promise to keep this call under 3 minutes. May I explain
the purpose of my call?"
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Use
"Introductory Cold Script" found in the IT Staffing Sales Plan and
you will not get this objection.
Out of courtesy, professionalism
and respect, always ask the prospect if you have reached them at a bad time
when they answer the phone. You have to assume you
are interrupting their day when making a cold call. "When would be a better
time for me to call you back?" "May I take 1 minute to explain the
purpose of the call and you can decide if it makes sense for me to call you
back?" You want to make the prospect feel in
control of the call.
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"Call me back in 6 months"
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"Mr.
prospect, I appreciate your interest and candidness. I will be sure to make a
note to do just that."
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First, think
about what you said to the prospect that compelled them to tell you to call
back in six months., "but
let me ask you. What do you expect
to happen or change in 6 months that will make our conversation different
from the one we are having
today?" "What is
preventing us from talking today about how our two organizations may be do
business together?"
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"We're all set"
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If you are getting
this objection either the prospect is not listening to you which means you
have no consideration with the manager or, you are trying to sell them. People don't want to be sold. This is a common objection from low-level HR and Recruiting
professionals simply blowing you off.
"What exactly
does that mean Mr. prospect?" We want to qualify
this and find out what the REAL objection is. Ask drill down questions and find points of
dissatisfaction with their current vendors. Those are opportunities for us. "If you could change one thing about your current vendors what would it
be and why?" "What suggestions can you offer me to get
consideration in working with you and your organization?" "What did
your current vendors do to earn your business?"
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"We have a vendor were happy
with"
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"I can certainly
appreciate that Mr. Prospect. I hope and expect my clients to say the same thing when my competitors call
on them."
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"That said I also know
that as a vendor you can't be everything to everyone and I know from my research
that XYC company uses a number of different software and hardware products to
run the IT operations. How happy are you and the other managers with the
service you get from your current vendors?"
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"We can't afford to pay fees"
(direct hire)
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"I can certainly
understand and appreciate the fact that you have to keep an eye on your
budget."
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"Let me ask you, what
do you know about our fee's?"
"Have you ever paid a fee for a service like ours in the
past?" If yes, ask them to explain what they paid and what they
got in return. They may have been burned by another firm in the past and you
just have to get them to overcome that fear of hiring a recruiter. You have to educate the client and
sell the value of your service. They have to be able to see the value of your
service outweighing it's cost. "Have you ever compared the cost
of a recruiting fee to the hard and soft dollars associated with sourcing and
recruiting on your own?" "Are you familiar with all of the costs
including the hidden costs of sourcing and recruiting on your own?" "Did you know that when you
break it down it's often much cheaper to pay a fee?"
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"I have no needs"
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"I understand. It
sounds like you are doing everything internally and today the timing is just
not right. May I ask you a few
questions though about some research I did on your organization? I read on your (web site, annual
report, 10K statement, press release etc) that you're looking to accomplish
X, Y, and Z. We have actually
helped other customers achieve the same (or similar goals)."
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"What are some of the
key challenges you foresee in meeting these objectives?"
Additional Clarifying Questions
"I see. And when you
say you have no needs, what exactly do you mean? That you have no needs today
to hire IT contractors?"
"And when you do have a need, what is that I will need to do to
get the opportunity to work with you?" "The next time you do have a need will you give me a
shot?" "How do you
suggest we move forward from here?"
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"We review our contract/evaluate our vendors every
2 years/We put out an RFI/RFP every 2 years"
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"Thank you for sharing
that with me. I understand and
appreciate the value of having good quality vendors that can consistently
deliver and the time and effort required by you to qualify them. May I ask a few questions regarding
the evaluation process?"
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"How do you evaluate
and benchmark your vendors? Who does it and what is the actual process
consist of? How long does that
take? What happens to the
vendors that score poorly? How
many vendors do you currently work with?" "How do you decide what vendors make the final
list?" Who besides yourself makes the ultimate decision?"
"This may not be the
case with you but often times we find that customers get 80% of their orders
filled by 10% of the vendors being utilized. The remaining 90% of the other
vendors for whatever reason just don't produce results. More than likely the prospect will agree with you. When
they do, ask them "That being the case, as just a
"one-off" to determine if we might be able to improve the overall
quality of your supplier base, would you be willing to give us a shot with
one of your niche-skill requirements and you can benchmark us now against
your current suppliers?"
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"We have an onsite MSP/VMS program.
You have to talk to them"
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"I see. Those programs
have really gained popularity over recent years." Do you mind if I ask you a couple of
research-oriented questions?"
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Assuming an
actual hiring manager is giving you this response...
"As a hiring manager
and "customer" of this MSP/VMS program, how do you like it? What benefits are you seeing from it?
What are some of the disadvantages of the program? What if you had a vendor
that you wanted to work with that wasn't currently part of the program?" What circumstances would need to be present
for you to work with a vendor not included in this program? Who made the decision to implement
this program? To hire the MSP?
What advice or recommendations can you offer me so I can position my
firm as a vendor to be a part of this program? Who do you suggest I speak
with?"
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"We can't afford to hire
contractors or consultants, they're too expensive."
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"I understand and
empathize with you. I know times are tough and can certainly appreciate your
need to keep a close eye on the budget."
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"Let me ask you, under
what circumstances have you hired contractors/consultants in the past and
what about it made you feel that it was too expensive?" We need to understand the history here-when did they use
contractors, for what sort of job, what were the results and what did they
pay? Chance are your going to hear a story (or multiple stories) where the
customer got burned. You need show empathy for theme when that happens. "If
budget were not an issue would you/your organization hire consultants?"
"Why or why not?" We are trying to isolate
the issue here. Is price the only reason or is there another reason they just
have not yet shared with us. "When is the last time you or your
company hired a consultant?" If the situation is
such that you have to convince the company to adopt the philosophy of hiring
consultants to augment their staff then you are in for a very long sales
cycle and most likely better off moving on to a new account.
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"I'm not taking meetings with
vendors at this time or I don't have time to meet?"
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"I can appreciate how
you feel and your need to
properly manage your time. Many of my customers told me the same thing the
first time I asked them for an introductory meeting."
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"We've had great
success working with other firms in your industry (name them if you can)
helping them overcome a number of different challenges (name the technical
challenges you solve for your clients). I promise to keep the meeting to
fifteen minutes and if you don't get any value out of us meeting I promise to
never call you again. Fifteen minutes,
that is all. Does that seem reasonable?"
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"I'm not taking meetings with
vendors at this time or I don't have time to meet?"
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"I can appreciate how
you feel and your need to
properly manage your time. Many of my customers told me the same thing the
first time I asked them for an introductory meeting."
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"What is it that is
keeping you so busy?" Seek to understand what
the real objection is. If it's only time, we
have to sell through that. If the prospect has no pain (issues with current vendors,
failing IT projects) and doesn't have any potential contract needs coming up
in the next 3-6 months then it will be hard to justify a meeting.
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"I have never heard of your
company"
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"This is not the first
time I have heard that but that is ok. Can I assume that working with a
partner with a strong reputation and stability is important to you?" That is their real concern when they say they have never
heard of your company. They're concerned you might go out of business
overnight.
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"Would you like me to
share with you a little about our history and expertise and the customers we
work with?" Explain to them
how long you have been in business, and name your most prominent customers
and explain how you have delivered business value to those customers. Explain
any other business awards and certifications your organization may have
achieved.
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"My HR department doesn't let me
talk to recruiters"
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"That is interesting
that you mention that. We have been hearing that a lot lately from our other
customers (managers in the IT department). How do you feel about this policy?
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"How do you feel this
policy is helping you and the rest of the IT department in your organization?" Our customers have shared with us and
that this policy makes them feel really frustrated. Like their hands are
tied. How does this make you
feel? What benefits are you
seeing from this model? How
would you describe your relationship with your HR department?"
The first thing
you need to do in this situation is determine if this is the case with all of
the IT hiring managers or just one or two. This is qualifying the process.
Often times managers tell you this to get you off the phone and other times
it's simply true. But are there "maverick managers" who can and
will "buck the system" and work with you directly because this
policy is no effective? Second,
if all of the hiring of IT contractors does go through HR, is this an account
you want to work with? This is a business decision you have to make. Most
often, when working an account where you can't communicate with the hiring
managers is more trouble than it's worth.
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"We're already getting enough
resumes from our own vendors"
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"Oh, great, it sounds
like you already have a few vendors in place. I would imagine a company with the stature and reputation
of (name the name of the prospect company) that you must have excellent
vendors who do a wonderful job." Reverse
psychology.
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"This probably is not
the case with you but we're finding (in this market) that a lot of customers
are receiving lots of resumes from vendors but they are not yielding results. We want to
see how they respond. We are
seeking a point of dissatisfaction with their current vendors. "How many resumes have you
reviewed? And how many interviews have you conducted? Are you confident your vendors truly
understand your technical requirements and how to properly screen for the
technical talent you're seeking? What if we could improve your
resume-to-interview-to hire ratios for you?"
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We are using an RPO so you would have to
talk to HR"
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"Oh, great. RPO has been a hot trend over the
past couple of years. This is
probably not the case with you but from what we have heard from other
customers and from reading in the news, RPO's seem to have mixed
results."
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"As a hiring manager
in the IT department, what benefits are you seeing from this
model?" How have you
reduced your costs? How is this
model helping you deliver your projects on time, under budget and to
specification? In what ways is
this model not meeting your needs? Seeking to find
pain, dissatisfaction with the RPO model.
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