The following are the procedures and tips to be followed when contacting cold leads (cold calling).

1. Be knowledgeable by knowing your product or service. Be aware of the company’s value proposition by clearly defining the unique benefit to the customer over the competition. It’s a good practice to be able to summarize this in a sentence or two. Know common questions, objections and about competition to your product or service so you can be prepared. 
2. Be persistent, but not annoying. Cold-calling works best if you call consistently, for the long-run, but not so frequently that you may be seen as harassing them.
3. If the person you are contacting isn't available, don't hang up. Ask politely if there is anyone else in the same capacity that you could talk to. The more names you get, the easier it will be to make future calls.
4. Try to determine if the person you are talking to is actually a decision-maker. This can be difficult, but if you ask them what they do at the company you should be able to get a good idea.
5. Don't dismiss getting to talk to an assistant. Executive assistants often have significant influence on their boss's decisions.
6. Try to found out about the person you are calling before you call them. Tools like LinkedIn can be good for that. Don't appear creepy either! Leave personal information out of the conversation, unless you can hint at something that may interest them personally without seeming too invasive.
7. At some point, ask them if it's OK to email them. Make sure what you are offering will likely be of interest to them. They are less likely to say no if you offer something of value.
8. Always follow-up consistently. Tell them when you will call back, why you will be calling, and ensure you do actually call them at the time you agree upon.