Cold calls don’t have to be a hard sell if you have the right connections. And the perfect list of hot prospects may be tucked away in your desk drawer – your fellow members of the chamber of commerce.

Complete strangers might cut you off before you get cooking on your cold call. But introduce yourself as a fellow chamber member, and most folks will at least listen to your pitch. Maybe they’ll listen out of a sense of politeness. Maybe they simply want to do business with other chamber members. Whatever the reason, you can use the connection to gather new customers.

Although most savvy entrepreneurs join a local chamber of commerce, many overlook state chambers. You can easily find their Web sites and contact information by going to http://chamber-of-commerce.com/search.htm. There you can search by entering the name of a city, state or province.

If you want to reach out even further in search of new customers, explore national chambers of commerce associated with specific ethnic groups. Many of the national chambers maintain local chapters in large cities. These organizations, like your local one, can serve as a tip list when it’s time to make sales calls.

For instance, there’s the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, www.ushcc.com. Here are a few other chambers you might want to check out:

• Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, www.iaccmd.com

• Costa Rican-American Chamber Commerce, www.amcham.co.cr

• US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, www.uspaacc.org

The list goes on, but you get the idea. And you can take the concept to different venues. Are you a member of an alumni association? A country club? An industry organization? If so, grab that membership list and start dialing for dollars.

By identifying yourself as a member, you make an immediate connection with the prospect on the other end of the telephone line. That connection can heat up cold calls so prospects become new customers.