How to do cold calling effectively ?

This lets you organize your thoughts before cold calling, and helps you avoid common mistakes in the cold call opening that would give the person you're calling the chance to terminate the conversation. For instance, it's not advisable to ask, "Is this a good time to talk?" or "How are you today?" Don't read your opening statement into the phone, but use it as a framework to get the conversation off to a good start.

As I work as an independent operator, 90% of what I do is by cold calling. I first introduce myself and the company I represent having called the intended recipient of my call, give a short 2-3 sentences brief in a pleasant tone of my service or product, and check out if I can have their e-mail ID or a later hour to talk more, or find out if the recipient has a suggested resource to introduce the technicals of the product.

If recepient wants to know   pricing, I would offer approximate budgeting for a firm of that size, and elicit information politely of his size, but persist in trying to send brief.  Subsequently, I would introduce a ppt, pdf, site info., persons to call over mail, find out if mail was received or not.

Generally, I would find before or during the process good time to call the intended person i.e. mondays, time of day, time around when he goes to lunch. In case I have his mobile number give to me, I would use the name of the person who gave me the mobile as an initial reference and use a bit of the halo effect, but a rule I follow is never to call on his mobile unless some relationship has been built.

If he has a filter in the form of a secretary, I generally get directed to her desk, in which case I use her ID with cc to intended person, and then generally engage converstations with the secretary, that allows me access to call at all times, as secretarys love to talk, and it gives one an "in" within the organization for at least a decade as more often than not, they would be around even if the IT manager has left within 3 years :-).

The rest is follow up, working to get appointment for face-2-face meeting or demo.

Research is very important. Know the business of the company on the Web, follow its business over business   papers, know the vertical and know what other companies are doing, know the pricings of various products and costs in that segment, understand their cycles

Cold calling is really nice and informativetoo.But it sometimes make recievers frustrated when there are too many calls or when the caller stick on to the recievers.Its better if the caller is brilliant enough to catch that if the reciever is interested or not, than manage the situation accordingly.One should not stick on to the person recieve the call.