Buying appointment setting
In-house SDR or outsourced appointment setting? A decision guide
Hire in-house when you want prospecting to become a lasting skill inside your business, and someone can manage and coach it. Outsource when you want qualified conversations without building that function first, or you want to test a market before committing. You can also do one and then the other, or both at once for different markets.
This guide sets out what the role involves, what you still have to provide either way, the trade-offs side by side, and a cost worksheet you fill in with your own figures.
What the role actually involves
A sales development representative (SDR), sometimes called a business development representative, does the work between "who should we talk to?" and "you have a call booked":
- Building and checking lists of businesses that fit
- Researching why each might want to talk now
- Reaching out and following up, consistently, week after week
- Handling replies, questions and "not right now"
- Qualifying against criteria you've agreed
- Booking, confirming and rebooking calls or meetings
- Passing over context, and keeping your records up to date
An appointment setting service does the same work from outside your business. The work doesn't disappear when you outsource it. The question is who does it, and how it's managed.
What you provide either way
Whichever way you go, these stay with you:
- A clear description of the businesses and roles you want to meet
- Approval of the messages sent in your name
- Criteria for a qualified call or meeting (our checklist helps)
- Someone who runs the sales conversation and follows up quickly
- Feedback on how each conversation went, so targeting improves
If these aren't in place yet, sort them first. Neither an SDR nor a service can make up for them.
The trade-offs side by side
| In-house SDR | Outsourced appointment setting | |
|---|---|---|
| Control | Full control of process and daily priorities | You approve targets, messages and criteria; the provider runs the process |
| Time to first conversations | Hiring, onboarding and a ramp-up period first | Setup and research first, usually without hiring |
| Management | Someone has to coach, review and motivate them every week | Reviewing briefs and outcomes, and regular check-ins |
| What stays in the business | Skills, relationships and know-how | Your records and what you learn from outcomes; the process stays with the provider |
| Flexibility | Harder to scale up, down or pause | Usually easier to change or stop, depending on the agreement |
| If it doesn't work out | Recruitment starts again, and momentum is lost | Change the brief, or end the agreement |
| How cost behaves | Mostly fixed, whether or not conversations happen | Depends on the model: retainer, per lead, or per held call or meeting |
| Tools and data | You choose, buy and maintain them | Usually included in the provider's price |
The cost inputs: fill in your own
We haven't included salary figures or benchmarks. They vary by city, industry and experience, and any number here would be out of date quickly. Use the same period for both columns (a year works well), and include the ramp-up months, when a new hire books fewer conversations.
In-house SDR (for the period)
| Input | Your figure |
|---|---|
| Base pay | ______ |
| Employment on-costs (for example superannuation, leave and insurance in Australia; payroll taxes and benefits in the US) | ______ |
| Commission or bonus | ______ |
| Recruitment cost (fees or your time) | ______ |
| Tools and data (CRM seat, data, phone, software) | ______ |
| Manager's time: hours a week × their hourly cost × weeks | ______ |
| Months before they're fully productive | ______ |
| Total cost | ______ |
| Qualified conversations you expect in the period, allowing for ramp-up | ______ |
| Cost per qualified conversation | ______ |
Outsourced (for the same period)
| Input | Your figure |
|---|---|
| Setup fee, if any | ______ |
| Retainer, if any | ______ |
| Price per qualified held call or meeting × the number you want | ______ |
| Your time reviewing briefs and giving feedback | ______ |
| Total cost | ______ |
| Cost per qualified conversation | ______ |
Two things the sums won't show: what happens if your SDR leaves mid-year, and what your best salesperson's time is worth when it goes on prospecting instead of selling.
Questions that usually decide it
- Is there someone to manage an SDR? Without coaching and review, even a capable SDR is set up to struggle.
- Do you know who you sell to and what to say? If not, an outsourced test can teach you before you hire.
- How soon do you need conversations? Hiring takes time before the first call is booked.
- How sure are you about the market? Committing a salary to an untested segment or country is a bigger bet than a trial.
- Is prospecting something you want to own long term? If it's central to how you grow, building it in-house has lasting value.
- Could you cope if the person left? One SDR is a single point of failure.
A simple way to lean
| If this is true for you | Lean towards |
|---|---|
| You have a proven message, a manager with time, and steady demand for more conversations | In-house |
| You want to test a new market, segment or offer first | Outsourced |
| Nobody can manage or coach an SDR right now | Outsourced |
| Prospecting is core to your growth and you want to build the skill | In-house, perhaps after an outsourced start |
| You need conversations in two markets or segments at once | Both: in-house for one, outsourced for the other |
Starting one way, moving to another
Starting outsourced and hiring later can be a sensible path: you learn which businesses respond and what they care about, then hire with a clearer job description and a message that already works. Going the other way also makes sense, for example keeping your own team on key accounts while a provider opens a new region.
If you outsource, keep control of these
- Approval of every message sent in your name
- The list of businesses to leave alone: your clients, open deals and partners
- The written definition of a qualified, held call or meeting
- A brief before each one, and the right to flag a poor fit beforehand
- The ability to pause or stop without a long lock-in
GoodYarn works on the pay-per-held model: one agreed price for each qualifying call or meeting that takes place, no retainer and no lock-in. The pay-per-held-meeting guide explains how that works, and you can ask for a free meeting plan below.