Cold outreach is not bad.
It is good to reach out to people and explore if they could use what you offer.
But there are wrong and right ways of doing it.
Most outreach I see is of the first type – the one done wrong.
People reaching out on LinkedIn to connect, and sending you a sales note as soon as you accept their connection request.
A small mindset shift is all we need to change this, and do it right.
How about first sending a short note with ideas to help the person you are reaching out to.
This will get the recipient to associate some expertise with your name. Let the recipient get back with what they think of your ideas. In case they don’t get back in 3-4 days send a follow up with what you offer. Write this follow up with the recipient’s best interest in mind.
When you approach outreach this way, you’ll see your response rate increase, what you do with these increase responses is up to you. But, I am sure you can figure that out 🙂