Cold calling advice

I'm looking to get into shooting more corporate style headshots and I noticed a lot of car dealerships around me all have cell phone quality photos.

What would be the best way to approach them to offer to spruce up their sales teams headshots? Cold call? Email? Should I include a price or just start with an introduction to me and what i'm offering?

Printed sales sheet with examples of your work and ability to provide different looks. Include a website URL so they can pass the info on if needed.

Pricing is a tough call. I suspect it will help them out, but pricing yourself out of the game before you even get in the door sucks. You might want to include a "volume discount for more than 5 employees" and leave that unstated until you get an idea what they are wanting. Go in knowing what is acceptable for your business needs, if you're lucky enough to get to a decision maker right away you'll better sound like you know your stuff.

Probably more likely you don't see a decision maker right away. Suck up to the greeter/receptionist, he/she is your best asset. Collect as much info as you can, be aware of what is going on around you don't get in the way if they are busy.

The car dealership often has an advertising firm to handle that sort of thing unless it's Norm's Shady Used Car Lot. Find out who their ad agency is (or perhaps their media buyer) and send them your card.

Large corporations (bank headquarters, large manufacturers) often have their own media departments. Sometimes there's a staff photographer that fills other duties. Sometimes the work is farmed out. Send a letter and a card telling them what you do. It never hurts to get your name out there. You may not hear from anyone for a year, so keep track of who you send your card to.

It wouldn't hurt to invest in a glossy one-fold brochure that shows what you can do.

A good place to look for work is at "finishing" schools. Many are really second and third tier modeling agencies.

Thanks for the advice!