It seems to me that the current trend is toward something called "warm calling" rather than cold calling. In the US, comprehensive (if toothless) consumer legislation against unsolicited sales calls and concern about resources wasted by unsolicited bulk mail has trickled down into businesses. If you can demonstrate to the people you contact that you are not wasting their time you're half-way there. (Well, maybe a third of the way.)

If you have a large list of cold-calling prospects, you might want to start by ordering them by. . .something that relates positively to you. Specialize in working with large corporations? Rank your list by income. Want to work with people who have lousy websites? Rank your list old-to-new by date the existing site went live. See yourself as the kind of specialist who can jump into a design department and fill in at the last minute? Start by looking for firms that have a design department.


You can make your prospecting more successful by:

1. recognizing that it is self-defeating to call people you don't know and convince them to hire you as the answer to their problems...whatever those problems are. (Though a first call as a needs-assessment rather than a hire me call is not a bad idea.) If the purpose of your call is to sell your services then you need to be able to articulate specifically what you do and why the client should hire you.

2. spending more time doing research up front. A list of telephone numbers for businesses that would purchase your services is just the start. Spend the time learning about the business.

• Do they have an in-house design department?
• Who is its head?
• If there is none, who oversees design duties (or brand management, or marcom in general)?
• How sophisticated is their own web page?
• Who are their clients?
• Are they in a position--realistically--to recommend you to work for their clients?

When you've identified a person with whom you can speak about your services, find out about her or him. How long has s/he been at this job? What are her/his specialties? It there a point at which you can make a personal as well as a professional connection?

There is more of course.

The result of good preliminary research is that you don't waste time calling the people who will never ever hire you, and you have a better sense of where your services fit into the bigger picture of those who might.

3. taking a page from the Big Book of Networking and consider the sales call a 2-way street. What--in addition to the money-for-work exchange--can you offer each other? Taking the time to get to know prospects can make all the difference. In particular, it will keep your use of the research you do from making you seem like a creepy stalker.

4. thinking about how you present yourself in your calls (phone, in-person, virtual, other). A very famous newspaperman of my parents' generation tells a wonderful story about his first job as a door-to-door magazine subscription salesperson. His opening line, he said, was "You wouldn't be interested in a subscription to [Magazine], would you? He learned, eventually, that this was not a great way to open a sales call.

But it's more than that, too. Make sure you are clear in your mind what you have to offer and why this firm or person should hire you before you dial the number or walk in the door. If people will see you make sure you're dressed appropriately, your teeth brushed and hair combed recently. (You may think "I look messy because I'm busy." Potential clients may see "this person can't keep him- or herself in order. How can I expect them to give me a well-organized web design?")

5. not taking rejection personally. When someone says "thanks but no thanks"--or even "no, go away"--the secret meaning is not "you're a horrible person and I hope something terrible happens to you soon."

So, that's a start. Others here will no doubt have more to say.