Cold Calling Tips?

I've written on 'cold calling' as part of the sales process or prospecting for leads before and when I published my posts as articles at ezine they became my most read articles. When most people think about sales they think about cold calling. Regardless if they have conducted cold calling or been on the receiving end of a cold call, the topic brings negative emotions. In response to this great interest, I want to collect your cold calling experiences, good and bad. Post your experience as a comment to this post and perhaps we can create together some great cold calling suggestions and tips to make the experience more positive.