Feelers for a Patent License

I have an issued US Patent that is -- I hope -- a clever means to assist in medication compliance (I'm a chemical engineer by training, although with minimal experience in pharma - mostly I was in petroleum). I retired early and have been consulting and inventing on the side and this patent has gone further than most and has been issued. It was suggested to me a couple of more likely pharma companies to approach, but I literally have no idea how best to do this.

- Without going into the particulars of the patent, I'm just curious about how many of these unsolicited patent feelers they get over the transom in a given year? I guess they call this the "slush pile" in publishing, but it seems the most direct route. I have contacts but they are all friends-of-a-friends-cousin sorts of contacts. Is that better than just sending a letter?

- Should I expect any sort of response?

- How many of these feelers does someone like Merck get from small inventors in a given month? 5? 500? 5,000? Do they every take people like us seriously? Even a "thanks but no thanks" is fine, even a "thanks but you are a complete nutcase" is okay, too. I just don't want not hear.

- Please don't sugarcoat your thoughts, I'm happy with what I've invented, but I just want to know if sending something in over the front desk is ever worth the bother.

Thank you.

Feelers for a Patent License