Cold messages to people in my field, do they work?

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. This is my first time dealing with any of this. Some people reply with short answers.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 10 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Follow up with a thank-you and a short update. One of my chats led to a referral a month later.