Cold email agency versus in-house SDR

A cold email agency fee and an SDR salary describe different scopes. A fair cost comparison uses the same period, the same work packages and explicit ramp assumptions.

Fill the worksheet with your own figures. No market benchmark can replace the cost and capacity inside your business.

Equal-scope total-cost worksheet

Use one currency. Keep monthly, annual and one-off costs visibly labelled. Apportion annual salary to the selected period. Use a user-supplied on-cost that reflects the organisation’s own employment costs and policy.

Define equal scope

List the work being compared:

• market definition;
• account and contact research;
• message creation and approval;
• sending setup and operation;
• reply handling;
• qualification;
• CRM administration;
• reporting and learning;
• sales discovery.

Mark each line included, internal or outside scope. An agency can look cheaper because the buyer retains research or reply work. An SDR can look cheaper because management and tools are missing.

State ramp assumptions

Record the selected period and the productive-capacity assumption for each month. Use the organisation’s own hiring plan, onboarding plan and provider proposal. Keep ramp as an input that can be changed.

Do not invent a universal time to productivity. Product complexity, market clarity, management quality and existing infrastructure change the answer.

Calculate total cost

In-house cost = apportioned annual salary + user-supplied on-cost + monthly tools × months + recruitment/setup + total management hours × management hourly cost

Agency cost = one-off fees + monthly fees × months + pass-through costs + total internal management hours × management hourly cost

If comparing cost per accepted opportunity:

Cost per accepted opportunity = total selected-period cost ÷ accepted opportunities in the same period

Do not calculate the ratio when accepted opportunities are zero. Keep the result blank or label it not calculable. Define accepted opportunity before comparing options.

Fictional example

A fictional example compares an internal SDR plan with an agency proposal across the same selected period. The agency includes research and campaign operation. The buyer keeps reply handling and discovery. The internal plan includes a salary but has not yet included management time or tools.

The worksheet holds the decision until both scopes are complete. The user enters the real salary, on-cost, tool fees, agency fees and total management hours. The example makes no claim about which option costs less.

Run a sensitivity check

Duplicate the worksheet and change one uncertain input at a time. Test the organisation’s own low, expected and high cases for ramp, management time, tool cost and productive capacity. Label the cases as planning assumptions, not forecasts.

The sensitivity view shows which assumption drives the decision. If a small change in management hours reverses the result, management capacity deserves more diligence. If the result barely changes, the team can focus on capability and control.

Handle partial periods and shared roles

Apportion annual salary and annual tools to the selected period using the organisation’s accounting convention. Allocate shared manager time only where the comparison requires it, and state the allocation rule. Keep sunk costs separate so the reader can see which costs change with the decision.

Add data and supplier costs

ICO guidance says personal-data duties can apply to B2B marketing. The NCSC supply chain principles cover risk, controls, assurance checks and ongoing improvement. Include the internal time required for access review, provider assurance, suppression, incident roles, export and deletion where those jobs sit inside the option.

Make the decision on capability too

Cost cannot show whether the team has the product fluency, management attention and sales capacity to run the model. Record which capability the company wants to build permanently and which work can sit with a provider.

Comparison check:

• [ ] Both options cover the same selected period.
• [ ] Salary is annual and correctly apportioned.
• [ ] Tools are monthly or annual with clear units.
• [ ] On-cost is user supplied.
• [ ] Management uses total hours for the selected period.
• [ ] Work packages are equal or differences stay visible.
• [ ] Ramp and capacity assumptions come from named owners.
• [ ] Zero denominators return no ratio.

The managed lead generation guide covers the wider operating model. To inspect Hyper’s outreach scope as one input, review the outreach product page.

Discuss your growth priorities with Hyper