How to make a cold contact? I'm jobhunting from a distance (NC to MN), and I've been looking for jobs in a town where I have no connections. I've googled potential employers, put in apps through their websites directly instead of through Linkedin (and others), but I still feel like I'm at a huge disadvantage over local candidates.

So, I found a potential contact at a company in the right location. My question is, how do I go about intros and asking for a leg up? I've noticed that we seem to have a lot in common career-wise, but I'm just not sure how to show my potential as a future employee without sounding desperate. Any tips to help boost my networking skills?