Cold messages to people in my field, do they work? after 4 years as a security officer

I want to talk to people in a new field but I hate cold messages. Thank you in advance. I worry about bothering people. Did any turn into leads?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 10 months ago, and it got easier 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.