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I was given a 5-minute intro to cold-calling once by someone whose coworkers called "the best in the business" of marketing his particular employer. His main tip was to have a smile on your face when you call, because that comes across in your voice. Act like you're calling a friend and you're helping them out and you're just really happy to provide this service -- probably some of the same things that make you successful face-to-face. Once they buy into you, they'll buy into your business.
You will get a lot of voicemail boxes. Practice your message - keep it upbeat - speak clearly - especially speak clearly when leaving your name and phone number. You may even consider speaking more slowly when leaving the number. If I have to listen to a voice mail more than once to get the contact information, it seriously reduces the chances that I will call back.

Be persistent. The rep for the ISP we switched to left me like 12 voice mails before I called her back. Her tactic was to never say who she was with, and I got so annoyed after awhile that I called back. I don't know if I would recommend the anonymous company thing, but I do recommend persistence.

Try different times of the day. I don't know where I read this (it might have been askmefi), but lots of times decision makers and managers are in the office way earlier than 8am, and with no receptionist to chop block you, there is a chance you might actually get the boss.
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- First, learn ALL ABOUT THE INDUSTRY. Trends. Opportunities. Threats. Knowledge is power.
  
  I'd suggest trying to get in a dialogue by asking questions. Don't go straight to sales in the first contact. Find out about their business. What challenges do they face as it pertains to your business? What are their challenges in general? When have they been the most successful? Why? Take notes on each person you speak to. Including little things...sports teams, just returned from vacation in Europe. This type of thing can help in the future
  
  Yes, you want that person as a customer, but if you stress that you want to build relationships and help them into perpetuity you're on your way to having customers for life.
  
  When you get rejected, politely thank them for their time and ask if it's ok to contact them from time-to-time to see how they're doing. At this time you want to find out how things are going by referring to the answers you got the first go around.
  
  Also-
  
  Read the trades/Wall Street Jour./NY Times/ Local Biz Journals. Email articles to rejectors/clients/other people religiously, "Thanks again for the meeting last month. You mentioned X in our meeting and I saw an article about X in yesterday's WSJ and I thought you'd be interested..." Stay in their ear. They may be able to reject you forever but they have associates who need what you have and if you show that YOU HAVE THEIR BEST INTERESTS IN MIND you'll be on your way.
  
  Join an ad club or trade group in your area. Networking pays in our business.
  
  Always send handwritten thank you notes on good stationery.
  
  Don't ever take your current customers for granted. It's easier to keep the ones you have than get new ones.
  
  Good luck.
- Building on Uncle, above - Find out *who* you need to talk to - Chasing major accounts is a *lot* easier if you know the name of the person you want to speak to, rather than just asking for the X,Y or Z
  
  If you have that information to hand, it opens the next stage of dialogue rather than the protective shields coming down by a Sub-Ordinate believing they are doing the right thing by putting a sales call off...
  
  I would counsel *NOT* leaving messages on VM - you leave yourself with nowhere to go but becoming an annoying caller rather than a persistent one - by all means leave a message after you have called 5 times and not got an answer though...
  
  And for verbally, finally; - the smile comment way at the top here - your demeanour and confidence is what you are selling initially - be an attractiv4e person on the phone, and the rest will follow.
  
  Letters is a toughie in my experience - especially mailshot / cold - your strike rate will be limited to *very* small numbers statistically speaking - We used to see an average of 1-3% take-up in our field - and so far better was the path personal contact / refusal to see / close by send information / follow-up call. It was far more cost effective.
  
  Best Wishes with your endeavours!
- Cold calling is a numbers game, pure and simple - depending on your product or service, I've heard that it's as low a success rate as 3% - in my industry it's more like 7-10%. I don't cold call to make a sale - I cold call to at least get in front of the prospect - if I can qualify him.
  
  The idea when you're cold calling is to qualify. The best salespeople in the world spend the majority of their time in front of qualified prospects consulting and closing.
  
  Thus, the cold-calling is a means to an end. Your bigger concern would be the criteria your prospect uses to buy based on your goals. For example, I automatically eliminate anyone who will not be making a purchasing decision within 180 days - they go to the follow-up file. If you can get them on the phone, you've got five minutes to make them want to meet with you, roughly. You also have five minutes to determine if this prospect is worth your time.
  
  Qualifying them as buyers, and moving on if they aren't is, in my humble opinion, the single most important skill for a salesman to have.
  
  Be friendly, know their industry, know what they need. My boss refers to it as "finding their pain" so you can solve the problem for them.