[FHMS]

I totally agree - we all know of the extremely irritating cold calls. However, in my own experience, if you research the person you are calling well, and follow a few rules of thumb (be genuine, aim for learning) the feedback from people is surprisingly positive! (I'd say maybe 1 out of 10 is a slightly irritated response)

Here (in Germany) it's legal to call businesses.

And also: It doesn't have to be calls - it could also be email or linkedin - and yes! also here it works if genuine.

[GordonS]

Personally, I don't care how well you've researched me before calling me; if I want a solution, I will go looking for it, and cold callers get short shrift.

[mygo]

K, cool nbd.. we'll just move on and call the next person on the list

[killerpopiller]

in Germany it is permitted to cold call B2B (§ 7 (2) Nr.2 UWG) but not cold-email (§ 7 (3) UWG).