COLD CALL

verb and noun (Business World) In marketing jargon, transitive verb: To make an unsolicited telephone call or visit to (a prospective customer) as a way of selling a product. noun: A marketing call on a person who has not previously expressed any interest in the product. Also as an action noun cold calling. Etymology: Formed by compounding: the call, whether by telephone or in person, is made cold, without any previous warm-up, or preparation of the ground. History and Usage: The term was first used in the early seventies as a more jargony equivalent for 'door-to-door selling' (and at that time cold calling was mostly done door-to-door); in the eighties the rise of telemarketing (see tele-) and the emphasis on 'hard sell' has meant a huge increase in cold calling by telephone. On the first cold call I ever made I started saying what I had been trained to say when to my astonishment the person I had rung said 'yes'. Marketing 11 Sept. 1986, p. 20 We've never been happy with 'cold calling' and are very disappointed that the FSA extended it further. People don't make calm, rational decisions if they're smooth-talked into signing by strangers in their homes. Which? Jan. 1990, p. 35 Financial salesmen will be able to 'cold call' customers and sell investment trust savings schemes. The Times 30 Mar. 1990, p. 23