As I sat on a sales and marketing panel last week, the question came up, “How do I get through to my prospects? Should I email them or call them?”

The audience member sat down, and I blurted out, “Phone Flank! Use the phone flank!” It was as if I was looking out at a herd of deer staring back into my high beams.

“The Phone Flank is a strategic mix of email marketing and phone sales,” I explained. “Not only does it save you valuable time; it helps you pinpoint your warm prospects to make quick sales.”

Now, I was Tony Robbins and I had just shared the secret of eternal success. I’ve never seen pencils hit paper that fast…

So what is the Phone Flank?

Well, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of Emperor Julius Caesar. It’s 48 BC, and our Roman forces are facing the army of Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus. We’re outnumbered four to one, but we are in friendly territory.

(In business, we are outnumbered by competitors, but the digital identity we create through our website, landing pages, and email marketing campaigns is what generates an environment for warm leads.)

Our army’s size has been cut in half, and we can’t reach our supply cache. What’s more, we face an army of thousands (competitors) hurling javelins through the air (messages, calls, and posts.)

Instead of battling this deadly roadblock head-on, we spread the majority of our troops to engage on multiple sides (email marketing) and call up a special battalion to ride directly toward our opposition (phone calls.) With this coordinated assault, we’ve now found our open flank, and we can attack and win the day.

By emailing our prospects, we engage our target with a custom-branded, professional looking email campaign offering something of value to the reader. Let’s say the value comes in the form of an eBook download or a link to your latest sales promotion — our readers will feel like it was worth their time to open and click. And that’s what matters in this battle… CLICKS!

The Phone Flank incorporates the AIDA principle in a two-part strategy: a targeted email marketing campaign and a timely outbound calling campaign.

By first emailing our prospects, we can draw attention and create interest with a professional-looking campaign while gauging the level of desire by measuring our open and click results.  We can then drive action by performing a targeted phone call campaign to those who clicked on our email.

Ready to get started? Check out this video for a step-by-step look at using the Phone Flank for your business:

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