Telephone canvassing, or cold calling, is the practice of sitting down with a long list of potential prospects you've never met and telephoning them, one at a time, to learn which of them needs what you sell and then arranging to sell it to them.

Believe me, nobody likes telephone cold calling. Salesmen don't like it because they perceive that cold calls are to unfriendly, unkind strangers who would rather see you in a California kickboxing ring, going one-on-one with Governor Arnold, than see you in their offices. It's true. They are. They would.

Prospects don't always appreciate cold calls, because they are from people they don't know, asking questions they don't want to discuss. These calls are unscheduled, intrusive and sometimes can be a general pain in the South Forty.

At other times, however, prospects do respond well to cold calls. They open up freely and give us the chance to sell them what they need.

So, here's the dilemma: If we don't like doing it, and prospects don