The story making all headlines last week about, what's her name, Jennifer Wilbanks makes me want to gag. If you don't care for straight talk you might want to delete this before reading anymore.

Whoever said life was supposed to be a bowl of strawberries?

Whoever said life was supposed to be fair?

Whoever said watching reality TV has anything to do with reality?

Whoever said if you mess up it's OK to blame it on some other person?

Whoever said you are entitled to anything?

Whoever said it's OK to live with your parents until you 40?

Whoever said you don't have to work your butt off to become a success?

Whoever said it's OK to call off your wedding by claiming to be kidnapped?

Whoever said any of these things, whoever believes any of these things, will never achieve any degree of personal success.

I'm not writing this to bash what's her name - she's already got enough problems. I'm writing this for you and to remind myself how important personal accountability is. If you have a problem - resolve to fix it. Do something. Do anything. But don't Runaway and don't point fingers at another living human being. Let me explain.

Some of you know, depending on how long you've been a subscriber, that my younger brother Ray was killed on September 11th at World Trade Center. This thing we call life is very precious. It drives me nuts, even infuriates me, that some people don't grab reins and take more control of their own destiny. My brother Ray, along with hundreds of NYC firefighters, chose to run up stairway, while thousands of other people were racing down that same stairway.

My brother had a choice.

What's her name also had a choice.

One was courageous and one was stupid and self-serving.

If cold calling is accepted in your industry then you should consider making it a prospecting tool. A benefit is that you connect directly with people who are likely to need or want what you offer. And, because cold calling is an active form of prospecting you can use it to fill holes in your pipeline when other lead generating methods are falling short.

So, if you decide to make cold calling part of your lead generating system, here are some ideas to do it as productively as possible.

1. Have a Lot of Leads

First, have a lot of leads. Jeff Mayer (SucceedingInBusiness.com) mentions this in his book, “Overcoming Fear of Cold Calling” and I think he's right. The more people you have to talk with, less important any one of them will be to you. It may sound cold and crass but any one individual lead is not important to you at his stage. What's important is finding those people who want to do business with you. The disappointment of hearing a “no” from someone is a lot easier to take when you know you have a long list of other people to talk with.

2. Qualify (or Pre-Qualify) Your Leads

Before you start calling people, make sure they meet your criteria for a qualified lead. Or at least make sure they meet as many criteria as possible. Focus your calls on people who appear to have a need for what you do. Forget rest. Your time is valuable so don't waste it on people who don't fit your profile.

3. Persistence is Painful, Not Profitable

Speaking about not wasting time, don't waste too much time pursuing any one lead. This is another good point Jeff Mayer makes. We were talking recently about this very topic. His advice is to make no more than 2-3 calls to a cold lead and if you do not connect with them, forget them. Or, put them back at bottom of list so you don't spend your precious time on people who simply are not 'reachable'. They might become reachable in future. Or they might not. Either way, understand and accept they are not reachable right not so don't spend your precious time on them.

4. Have a Goal for Your Cold Calling Program

Maybe I should have started with this one. Before you even start your calling, know what your goal is. Are you calling to obtain or confirm information? To further qualify them? To schedule a meeting? To close a sale? Whatever your specific goals are they should be about moving your leads through your sales cycle.

5. Get Them Talking with Good Questions

We all know cold calls tend to be world's shortest phone calls. It seems people we call all know how to stop a salesperson dead in their tracks. (I think they take classes to learn these sales-defense techniques.)

So, key in making cold calling productive is to get past initial defenses raised by prospect and get them talking. Before you start calling, have a list of questions in front of you. Make sure these questions are relevant to situation and help move you toward your goal.

6. Yes, Your Call is an Interruption. Get Over It.

Don't apologize for calling someone. Sure you're interrupting them. So what. Every thing's an interruption these days. We're all busy.

But we all have problems and issues that need solutions. Successful business people know their businesses need input, ideas, products and services from others to thrive. No person or business is an island. So if you have pre-qualified your leads and you're calling them with a legitimate product or solution they could use then don't apologize. You're presenting something of value. You're doing them a favor by calling.

7. Don't Waste Time

If person you're calling says they're not interested right now, don't waste your time or theirs trying to “overcome their objection.” I know we are taught to push through first couple of objections to get a close but that tactic is best left for a face to face meeting. On a cold phone call it's okay for them to say “no” because they probably do not have a need or interest right now. Or timing is not right. Or they simply do not know you well enough to say “yes”. And that's okay.