Could sending a voice note all you need to turn cold LinkedIn leads warm?; With Faris Aranki

Welcome to The Unnoticed Entrepreneur. This show will tell you how to get the recognition you and your business deserve. Our guests share their practical insights and tools which you can use straight away. Your host is international entrepreneur, podcast host, and author Jim James.

Welcome to this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur. Today we're not traveling too far, we're just going up to London to meet Faris Aranki. Ferriss, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Jim. It's great to be with you today.

Well, it's great to have you because you are an effectiveness facilitator and coach. You've had a, you know, a long and illustrious career, but we're gonna talk today about how you are using some tools that you've learned to build engagement, but also how using voice notes, notably in LinkedIn, to get an 80% conversion rate on cold leads and a few other things as well. So, Paris, welcome to the show. Tell us just a little bit about you and then we'll move into how you're managing to get so many people interested in the services you offer.

Yes, thanks, Jim. So I'll keep my intro brief and hopefully people will be interested enough to find out more about me. But yeah, you're right. I run a little business called Shigeto Consulting. Shigeto is the Japanese word for a sharpening stone because we sharpen other businesses. So just like you would when you have a dull knife. And how do we do that? Do that through 3 pillars, which is IQ, EQ, and FQ. So your ability to come up with ideas, that's the IQ. Your ability to take others on the journey with you, that's the EQ, the emotional intelligence. And the FQ, many of your listeners might not have heard of before, is the focus quotient— how focused you are to deliver on those ideas. Okay, put those all together, you've got success. You will unlock your strategy and you'll be effective. And I do this now, you know, I built this business 3 and a half years ago. Which your smart listeners can do the maths. That's just before COVID So I had to experience the pains of COVID just 6 months after we were born. But my backstory is I was a strategy consultant for some blue-chip strat firms. I worked in the energy industry in the strategy team of a large energy company. And a long time ago, I started as a schoolteacher. So I use a lot of techniques developed over those years from all those arenas.

Aris, yeah, as I say, you've got a lot of things going on. So let's unpack that just in the 20 minutes that we've got. Yeah, you're the first person I've ever met that integrates, you know, EQ, IQ, and this Focus Quotient. And I think it'd be really interesting, why don't you explain how the Focus Quotient works and how you dovetail that with IQ and EQ?

Yeah, so too often when I go into companies, I realize they're not focused enough, both at the corporate level, at the company level, and the individual level. Now, what do I mean by this is too many companies that, you know, I've got to stop laughing. I walk in and they tell me, yeah, we've got 100 strategic projects and I was like, how can you have 100 projects that are strategically important, right? You wouldn't have 100 things important in your life at the same time. And, you know, although they kind of get it, they're unwilling to let go of stuff because I always say, look, it's far better to do 10 things really well than 100 diluted, not just for you, but you're asking your staff to make choices, micro decisions every day. Should they work on this or this or this? And if you could give them that clarity, that focus, think how much better and more productive and effective your company will be and they will be. So that's really the essence of the FQ, the Focus Question. And that It also applies to us, right? We imagine you have a very important task, Jim, and you say, look, I've got to write this report, but then your phone goes and you're distracted by that. You're not giving it the 100% focus that you want. And we don't realize it, but lots of little things in life rob us of our focus, from emails to we're hungry, we're cold, we've just had an argument with our loved one. And the more you can sort of close those off, the more you can get focused and deliver quality work on what you should be working on.

Paris, I love that. And I can see there's many different applications, but you know, this show's about getting noticed.

Yes.

So let's drill down on how you're using this formula that you have of EQIQ plus FQ to get noticed for your own business.

Yeah. So if I take you back to the start of the journey, I started the company and it was going well, and then it all fell off a cliff because of COVID and we had no work. So I was back to square one. And what I realized during that time is actually everyone was at home and the volume of communication and information that was all being like magnified. Everyone was doing a webinar, everyone was doing emails and everybody was trying to reach out. And so I took a step back and this is where the IQ part came in. I said, how can I cut through the noise? I need to connect with my customers or potential customers. So I generated all the ideas that I had, things I'd tried before, things I hadn't tried. That's the IQ part. And I really kind of weighed up the pros and cons. But then I said, look, I'm just gonna pick one, one that will be really effective. That's where the FQ comes in. Don't try and do a little bit of everything. Don't do some cold calls, don't do some, a bit of webinars, a bit of, pick the thing that really works for you. And, you know, the thing that works for me was voice notes. It had been proven successful. Now it might not be for everyone, right? I will give this tip, but I equally say to when I give it to people, if you don't get energy from this, don't do it. If you're someone who loves to go and shake hands at a conference, make that your FQ. If you're someone who loves to do webinars, make that your FQ. But for me, it was voice notes. And so that's really what the focus part is about. And then it comes to the EQ. How can I do a voice note full of EQ that really is engaging and really draws the other person in, stands out, is memorable? And that's what I perfected. And that's what drives the core of my business.

Paris, let's talk about it because I've tried voice notes on LinkedIn, but you can only use that on the mobile app. You can't use it on the desktop.

You can only on the mobile app. And I don't know why that's the case, but it is the case. And often that's why a lot of people are completely unaware of the fact that you can do a voice note on LinkedIn. But you're right, Jim, that is where I do most my voice notes and I talked about getting joy from it. Funnily enough, I was doing before LinkedIn, I was doing on Facebook. Every one of my friends whose birthday would pop up, they would get a personalized voice note from me. And I thought, hey, why not try this on LinkedIn? So I don't need new connections. I have enough connections. Why not send them a very warm voice note that is just saying, hi, how are you? Right. And just find a reason to send them a voice note. And LinkedIn is full of reasons to contact people. You know, maybe it's their birthday. Maybe they've just changed job. Maybe they've just written a report or maybe they've posted something about something that's happening in their life. What I do every day over my first cup of coffee, Jim, is I pick 25 to 30 of these people from whatever stimuli I get on LinkedIn and I send them a voice note. And the voice note, no more than 30 seconds. Okay. And then I'll talk about the perfect voice note, but this is something that's taken me sort of 2 years to perfect a great voice note. I can fire them off over the course of a coffee. And lo and behold, about 80% of them reply. Okay. And that is more than good enough for me and my business.

You know, that really is inspirational because certainly most of us are in the position with LinkedIn where we're sort of trying to pursue more connections, more engagement, and yet ignore this very sweet way of engaging with the people that we've already got in our connections. So Farris, You've studied this, perfected it. Maybe you can save us some time and probably some embarrassment of sending inappropriate voice messages. Tell us, how do you structure that message to get a result?

Yeah, and you're spot on, right? You know, someone said to me earlier in my career, your best next customer you ever have is the one you've already got. So don't go chasing somebody new. But what makes a perfect voice note as far as I'm concerned, as I said, it's gotta be not too long, right? People's attention spans are a thing and there's a curiosity factor. We're still in this stage. Many people have never seen it, so when it pops up, It can be quite intimidating. So you don't want it to be a minute or 2 minutes and they're like, okay, I'm not gonna invest the time in that. So less than 30 seconds is key. The tone has gotta be very warm and convivial. Hi, great. You know, it's gotta involve nothing to do with selling. You're not talking about, I have this fantastic product. I really wanted to reach out. It is nothing more than, hey Jim, I just saw your post on LinkedIn. I just saw it was your birthday. I just saw you just changed job. Made me think of you. Made me think of the time that X. And reference a time that you two shared together and said, and do you know what made me think it would be great to catch up for a coffee sometime? What do you think? So leave an action, leave a hook on the end. That takes 20 seconds, no more. And it's amazing if delivered in the right tone and genuinely, not like you're reading off a script, gets the other person going, yeah, I do remember Faris. I remember. Oh yeah, it may have been 10 years, but we had a great experience and I wonder what he's up to today. Let me have a look at his profile. I'll just reply and say, yeah, I'd love a coffee. Let's see where it takes us.

Paris, I love that. And so you are writing, you say 20 to 25, and actually, if you're only doing 20 to 30 seconds, it's only taking you 20 minutes, not taking a lot of time either. So it's very efficient. When you get people to reply, what do you do next? Because you're potentially creating, you know, a growing body of people who are going, well, he wrote to me once, spoke to me once.

Yes.

And then I replied. But he didn't reply back. You know, that you do create the potential for some degree of overwhelm at the other end.

You do, you do. And this is where the FAQ comes back into play, right? And I learned this the hard way. I was a bit sort of slapdash. It requires a bit of project management skills, a bit of a CRM or however you treat it, because you need to carry on those conversations. And so for me, what I do is I immediately try and schedule something, you know, within 7 days. I learned long ago that people's attention is usually 7 to 10 days. And so I try and get something in within the next 7 to 10 days, even if it's just a quick catch up. And usually I try and direct it to a virtual coffee, you know, because that saves me a lot of hassle sort of logistically. So try and arrange something within the next 7 or 10 days, a few back and forths. If they say, let me get back to you, I immediately, what I do is I put in my calendar. So after I've received that, a week from now saying, okay, follow up with Jim. Okay. And that has a certain color code in my Outlook calendar. Okay, everyone will get one reminder. After that, another 7 to 10 days, I'll put a second reminder saying close off the conversation if we've not had a positive outcome or it doesn't look like we're going to arrange something. And that's a different color, so they get a formal close-off from me. So let's say I've sent you the voice note, you've replied, and then I've not heard anything from you. You'll get one reminder, then you get a second one saying, oh Jim, you know, thanks, clearly we weren't able to work this out, maybe it's further down the line. But as far as I'm concerned I'm gonna take this off my to-do list because I'm a busy guy. And do you know what happens? You send that, if you could get to that stage, I'd say 50% of the time they quickly come back to you and say, sorry, I was just occupied somewhere else. Let's go for that coffee. But that is my system. I don't overcomplicate it. I just use it in Outlook. But it does mean there is a process to it. And it does mean that, you know, you're giving prods and giving people the signposting that they need.

Paris, I love both the simplicity and the authenticity of that. And I can really see how I can use it as I'm sure all my fellow unnoticed entrepreneurs can. And as well, you're not just living on LinkedIn, presumably you've got other assets which go beyond if someone says, well, Farris is good, he's sent me a voicemail, let me check out what he's doing.

Yes. Yeah.

What would they see?

Yeah. So your listeners would probably say, well, he said just focus on voice notes, but yes, I do back it up because you are more than just a voice note. So, um, while voice notes is my main engine, I do blogs once a week. I do appear on podcasts. I do speaker events. And what I'm doing is creating an ecosystem around me and my company that is drawing people in, is playing on that EQ that they feel that they are part of a journey now, right? And that they are invested and they're interested. And it's amazing. Again, you know, the blogs and the events that I do are full of sharing personal stuff and building trust. And so just recently last week, Jim, I was on holiday, in fact, and I blogged about it. And it's amazing. I had more views of a blog about my holiday than ones where I write articles about a strategy or things. So it was quite— and then You know, since I've come back just this morning, on every call I've been on, people have asked me about my holiday or my clients, what are meant to be sort of either workshops or things. They go, oh, how was your holiday? How was it? So it is that kind of supporting aspect to build a relationship, to build trust that really complements the voice notes and fits in nicely.

That's wonderful. And from the holiday and the blogs, are you sharing that on LinkedIn or is that separate?

No, I do this all on LinkedIn. I actually do my blogs on Medium and then I link them on LinkedIn just so that they stay as a you know, a compiled body of work, whereas in LinkedIn they'll be lost in the feed. And what's been, you know, really nice in the last year, that's become— my feed has been picked up by a couple of other websites, newsletters, and it gets showcased. So, you know, I'm a firm believer if you keep building, you know, good stuff will happen. So my number of views go from sort of, you know, 2 years ago it was 20 people each blog. Now we're sort of 200, 250 each blog. And, you know, It's not going to be one single activity is what I tell people. It's a combination of stuff. Don't lose the faith. And if you are doing good stuff, if you're feeding the beast, you keep feeding, the beast will feed you eventually as well.

Yeah, that's very reassuring, isn't it? Because I think for everybody as well, there's a danger of sort of overwhelm and burnout. But you've got this ecosystem. We haven't really talked about Medium before on this show.

Yeah.

Tell us about Medium for those people that are not familiar with it. And why that would be a platform of choice.

Yeah. So if you are a blogger and you enjoy it, there's a couple of blogging websites out there. Medium and Substack are probably the 2 most prolific. Now what they allow you to do is build a profile and attach all your blogs so they're in one place so someone can come and find your reader. Whereas on LinkedIn, they'll have to trawl through all your other posts. It might be lost. So this is just pure about your blogs. The other great thing is it's where beans and newsletters go to find feeds. And crucially, if you reach a certain number, a bit like an Instagram or something, you start to get paid. So you need 100 followers and you will start to get revenue. So Medium has a free level and a paid-for level. And if, as soon as you reach the 100 level, you get a share of the subscriptions depending on how many people are reading your blogs. So if you are a really good writer, it's a good additional revenue stream.

Well, Farris, I had no idea because I publish on Medium, but I have to confess, I find the fact that they send you a link to log in each time a little bit irksome. That's what I found when you try and get into media. But anyway, that's another story. Let's just talk then a little bit as well about EQ, because we were talking before we started recording about how many people approach a potential customer.

Yeah, with low EQ.

And part of your skill set is to teach EQ. So while we've got you on the mic, it'd be a real shame not to learn from you. How does EQ work in that situation where you're approaching somebody maybe with a little bit of anxiety anyway and, you know, possibly making some mistakes? What would be your guidance there, Farris?

So my guidance is, and we could all use more EQ in our life, is approach a conversation as though you're there to listen, not to speak. Okay. You know, too often salespeople do 70 to 80% of the talking and it should really be the other way around. Ask more questions, listen more, mirror their language, mirror how they're speaking. Try and work out, are they a, you know, a Are they a big picture person? I'll stay at the big picture. So it's really about reading the room and flexing your style to really bring together what I call the Platinum Rule. So you might have been taught the Golden Rule as a child, which is treat others how you wanna be treated. No, scrap that. If you wanna have lots of EQ, treat others how they want to be treated. Okay? So either you can ask them or you can pay attention and then you can adapt. Yeah, that's great. And then you'll be a far more effective salesperson.

Okay. Well, that's really interesting. So you have to treat people as they want to be treated. Any examples then of how that would work in a practical setting, Faris? I think you mentioned one earlier that you might want to share.

Yeah, I mentioned earlier. So I said to you jokingly, I'm the kind of idiot who loves cold calls, receiving them, not just, you know, I reply to everyone and I see it as a chance to meet someone new and practice. And I was once sitting at my desk and my phone rang and it was a recruitment consultant trying to sell me his business's recruitment consulting. And he spoke at me for 10 minutes, literally. He didn't give me time for breath. And at the end, when I kept saying no, he said, all right, okay, what is it you do anyway? And I said, well, first of all, you should have researched that before you rang me. But I said, I'll tell you what I do and I'll show you what I do. I'm going to go through your 10 minutes that you spoke and explain exactly how you lacked any emotional intelligence. You didn't pause long enough there. You didn't ask me a question. You didn't, you know, use the same language that I used. You didn't, you know, when I showed confusion, you didn't sort of summarize and use an anecdote help me. And I played it back and it literally telling me about every puff and huff he'd said. And he said, that is amazing. And I said, yeah, that's what I do. And he said, is this something you could teach? I said, of course I can. He said, I'd love it if you could come in and teach me and my team how to do that, to be better salespeople. So off the back of a cold call, I ended up with a day's work for a consulting firm and they're now still clients of mine. I go in once a year and train their new recruits. So really, if you know, and it doesn't have to be a sales call, it could be your loved one, your daughter, your son, your husband or wife who maybe you could listen a bit more. Maybe you could show a bit more emotional intelligence in that conversation and then see what results come from it.

Yeah, you say listening is a skill that we're not taught and yet it's something that we all really need. Farris, you know, you've built your own business, although initially, as you say, you were, you know, a teacher and then an employee and a consultant. What would you say to the fellow unnoticed entrepreneurs that I'm a member of about what's really worked for you getting noticed? You've talked about the cold calls with the LinkedIn voice. Is there Sort of something else that you've been doing to build the brand?

Yeah, I think the number one thing I say to anyone is keep the faith and it's similar to your best next customer is the one you've already got is use the artifacts you've already got to promote your business. You don't need to go out creating new stuff. Start with what has already worked. All right. And it could be a great piece of work you've done somewhere, right? Can you think smartly? How can you use that more? Could you get the client to write a testimonial about it? Could you splice it up? Could you anonymize it and put driplets out into the market? Could you get somebody else to write an article about it? You know, could you go on a podcast and promote it? You only need one really good piece of work or project. And if you are creative enough, you can think of 10 ways to use it before you go. Too many people rush off and go, I just need to build something else and then I'll be successful. You've already got the keys around you. Just unlock the doors.

Faris, if people want to not just unlock the door, but knock down your door and receive one of your fantastic voice notes, how can they find you?

So, well, they can come and find me on LinkedIn. I spend a disproportionately large amount of time there, but I do love it. So look for Faris Aranki. I think there's only one of me. And the other place is come to the company website, Sheer Ghetto. So Shiagetto is S-H-I-A-G-E-T-T-O. As I said, the Japanese word for a sharpening stone. Look us up and yeah, drop me a line. I'd love to carry on the conversation. Yeah, always love talking to new people.

Faris, I've loved talking to you and we met on a platform called matchmaker.fm, which is for grown-up people that want to be on podcasts, not for any other untoward platforms. So it's another great platform if anyone's interested in being on podcasts. That is where Faris and I met. Farris, thanks for joining my fellow Unnoticed Entrepreneur and sharing all your great news about LinkedIn Notes and EQ and turning stories around and ultimately keeping the faith and selling what you've already built rather than continuing to build. Thank you so much for joining me today on The Unnoticed Entrepreneur Show.

Thank you very much, Jim.

So you've been listening to Farris Arankian. Of course, I'll put his details in the show notes and I would ask you if you've enjoyed this to please review the show. and also to share it with a fellow unnoticed entrepreneur. And this interview will then become an article. That's how we repurpose our content. And of course, as you know, these articles go into the book currently available on Amazon, published by Wiley. So encourage you to check that out. And until we meet again, just encourage you to keep on communicating. Thanks for listening.