EPISODE #33 · HARVEST! THE MSP SALES SHOW

Donald C. Kelly: Why Cold Calling Still Works

Donald C. Kelly, founder of The Sales Evangelist, on why a cold call fails when the person does not know you. He covers warming the contact on LinkedIn first, describing the problem in the client’s language, and tracking prospecting so the work is not a guess.

  • → Why an unprepared call does not get answered
  • → Warm the contact on LinkedIn before you dial
  • → Describe the problem in the client’s language
  • → Track prospecting ratios instead of guessing
Guest: Donald C. Kelly · Founder, The Sales Evangelist · 75 min · 2026
KEY TAKEAWAYS

What You’ll Learn From This Episode

“You have to speak the language of your clients, which is that language of the business.”

Donald C. Kelly

“If you can just be so detailed of prescribing the problem, people will believe you can fix it, and it doesn’t matter what the solution is.”

Donald C. Kelly

“You cannot succeed if you’re going to wing it. You gotta be able to track.”

Donald C. Kelly

“Cold calling is not dead if it’s done right. If you do what I tell you, your phone calls get answered because now that’s a warm call into that organization.”

Donald C. Kelly

“Go where your customers are. I’m going to go to Pilates class, the Rheumatology conference where I am the only MSP provider.”

Donald C. Kelly
ABOUT THE GUEST

Donald C. Kelly

DK

Donald C. Kelly

Founder, The Sales Evangelist

Donald C. Kelly is the founder of The Sales Evangelist, a sales training and coaching business built around his podcast of the same name - which recently passed its 2,000th episode. Born in Jamaica and raised in Florida from the age of nine, Donald cut his teeth selling security systems door-to-door before moving into government and B2B software sales. He has since worked directly with MSPs - both selling into the space and coaching MSP sales teams - and is the author of Sell It Like a Mango. He also built ProspectPro.io, a free tool that helps sales teams track their prospecting ratios so they can stop guessing and start managing their pipeline with real data.

Connect with Donald on LinkedIn →
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