Good luck and a few thoughts.
I'm relatively new to internet marketing and SEO, but have closed a lot of business working in traditional media marketing/advertising.
As others have said, face to face is the way to go. I have always found prospects more receptive once you're in their palce of business. It's just to easy to blow off a person on the phone. This doesn't mean that you can count on being able to get the decision maker's attention and make a presentation on your first visit. Create something to leave behind. Get some contact info for the person you need to talk to. This way, you're better prepared on the follow-up, and the prospect is hopefully more familiar with what you're offering.
If you're going to strictly go the phone cold-calling route, there is one thing that I have found to be somewhat helpful, but that takes more time. Devote your first call to establishing who you need to be talking to and don't go any further. Secretaries and other employees are conditioned to keep sales people away from the boss, so if you start with "can I speak to the owner," they will be more likely to blow you off. Instead, be honest, but don't ask for the owner. Tell them what company you're with, and that you're "updating your database." Ask who the decision maker is and make note of it. The next time you call, you'll sound more authoritative by being able to say "Hi, could I speak to Joe please?" Don't be affraid to leave a succinct voice-mail for the decision maker either, but don't expect a call back. All if this just makes your name and company more familiar. If the boss has heard two voicemails from you, he might be more apt to take the third call when his secretary says "John from SEO Company is on line one." If you're a complete stranger, they're much less likely to take that call.
Finally, at first you need to focus less on what you have to offer and more on what areas the prospect wishes they could improve upon. Some people will be interested if you go in guns blazing, but many more won't be interested because they won't immediately understand how what you offer can improve their business. If you take some time to establish that, it will be much easier to explain the benefits to them on another call.
Hope this was helpful. Good luck and keep us posted.
