Getting in front of important decision makers is the goal of many salespeople and business owners alike - after all, how would the decision maker appreciate the value that you can bring to them and their organisation unless you get your chance to show them?

The challenge is that with software for bulk emailing, marketing automation, LinkedIn messages, auto-diallers and so on, there's probably never been more marketing noise.

As a result, businesses large and small have opted to have fewer centralised switchboards, direct numbers and desktop telephones - whilst many decision makers are simply ignoring much of the electronic communication they receive.

It's probably harder than ever to cut through the frothy surge of various forms of electronic messages - or to introduce yourself to your ideal client via the telephone, despite the effectiveness of each method when done well.

These trends mean it's critical to have ways of reaching people that go beyond those that worked in 2005 - both in terms of methods and language; whether you're using email, LinkedIn messages, cold calling, SMS messaging - and/or something else, the methods of communication you select have to be able to get the attention of your prospects for the right reasons.

The same is true of what you say: your positioning needs to demonstrate something about your business that shows them why they should engage with you versus your competitor - you need to try to identify an authentic pain, challenge or solution that resonates with them and be able to give them a reason to believe in your ability to confidently and effectively address that - and your message needs to be snappy, relevant and concise.

And before you spend time and effort trying to engage this person - make sure you have the right person - that you're pursuing a decision maker or someone who can get you in front of them, at least.

There's a lot more I could say on this topic; I strongly believe that people are tired of being mass marketed to and stuffed into a sales funnel - but I do not believe that this precludes cold contact per se - we just need to keep focus on the prospect's needs - and on relevance and respect.