Here is a little cold calling anecdote: I started my sales career in beautiful Beijing, coming straight out of hotel school. Back in 2005 we had a fantastic Director of Sales & Marketing, who had previously been with Starwood and definitely knew his way around. But technology and sales intelligence software wasn't quite what it is today, which left our prospecting efforts less sophisticated than they could have been. So one day, we organized a sales blitz. Our entire (wonderful) sales team got onto a minivan and we drove into an industrial zone right outside of Beijing. There, new companies were opening on an almost weekly basis and we walked from one office building to the next, knocked on doors, gave out business cards and fliers, recorded the company name and if we got to talk to someone, a contact name and telephone number. It felt awkward walking along these wide, deserted streets between massive industrial complexes, knowing that none was expecting to see you. But at the same time, it was an extremely valuable sales experience to have had. It was blind cold calling in its true sense, it filled and updated our database and taught me how to strike up a friendly business conversation with a complete stranger.