On the surface, the phrase “effective cold calling” seems like the ultimate oxymoron, easily beating out “airline food,” “congressional ethics,” and other head-butting word combos. After all, picking up the phone and trying to sell anything to a complete stranger is a decidedly tough nut. But when you approach cold calling as both a marketing weapon and a sales technique, you can move beyond robotic word spew. Consider these fresh ideas on the art of generating sales leads with a phone call:

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• Warm up first. Many cold-calling regimens involve hundreds of calls every day. If the first few go nowhere fast, it’s hard to stay focused and motivated. Before you pick up a prospect list, call a few friends or someone you’ve worked with to hit a positive stride. “The first few calls every day should be ‘warm’ calls,” says Linda Finkle, a consultant in Potomac, Md. “Call someone who you know isn’t going to hang up.”

• Talk to the wrong person. This seems akin to tying boulders to your legs before your first swimming lesson. But if you initially hook up with the wrong person and ask whom you should contact, you will have a legitimate footing from which to proceed. Why? Because you can then tell your prospect that you were referred by a colleague, making the conversation far less awkward.

• Be up front. Few things are more maddening than a salesperson who is trying to cloud his or her identity. Tell your prospects precisely who you are and give them the chance to tell you to get lost. They will appreciate your forthrightness. “Be yourself and be honest,” Finkle says. “I often start a cold call by saying, ‘This is a sales call. Do you want to hang up or should I continue?’ Surprisingly, the majority say continue. Now I have their attention and can speak to them.”

• Be generous. The connotation of cold calling is deceptive bravado — fast wordplay aimed at sealing a quick deal. Instead, offer your prospect something useful without the pushy shtick. “Offer something of value without expecting something in return, perhaps an article that educates the prospect about using your service or one that shows how to avoid certain problems,” suggests Jim DeSena, a sales consultant in Orlando, Fla.

• Invite a final “no” at the end. Ending the call as comfortably as possible is essential from a relationship marketing and sales standpoint. Not only does it reaffirm the maxim that not every cold call has to ring up a sale, but it also sows positive seeds that may blossom in the future. “As the conversation is winding down, invite your prospect once again to say no,” says Jim Camp, a negotiation expert in Dublin, Ohio. “Let him know there will be no hard feelings if he decides your products or services are not for him after all.”

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