In-house vs. outsourced costs: here are your results
Understanding costs per SDR
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Hiring SDRs in-house:
$0.00
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Outsourcing SDRs:
$0.00
Direct monthly costs per SDR are just the tip of the iceberg.
Many organizations underestimate the hidden expenses of hiring, managing, training and equipping SDR teams—costs that lie beneath the surface but significantly impact your bottom line.
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Monthly costs per SDR
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Direct monthly costs per SDR
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Indirect monthly costs per SDR
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One-time startup costs per SDR
First year costs = 12 months per SDR + one-time start-up costs
| In-house | Outsourcing partner | |
|---|---|---|
| Total monthly cost | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| First year cost | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Subsequent yearly cost | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Here’s the cost breakdown by model*
When hiring in-house SDRs, you’ll directly cover salary, commissions, payroll taxes, benefits, and essential sales tools. With outsourced SDRs, these costs are neatly bundled into a predictable monthly fee—no surprises or separate expenses.
Direct monthly costs per SDR
| In-house | Outsourcing partner | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0.00 | |
| Salary | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Commissions | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Payroll tax | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Benefits | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Tools and licenses | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Total direct cost | $0.00 | $0.00 |
In-house SDRs require additional monthly costs for management oversight, office infrastructure and ongoing recruiting and onboarding. Choosing an outsourced SDR partner eliminates these indirect costs, as they’re fully included in the service.
Indirect monthly costs per SDR
| In-house | Outsourcing partner | |
|---|---|---|
| Management | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Infrastructure | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Recruiting | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Onboarding | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Total indirect cost | $0.00 |
Starting an in-house SDR role means significant upfront investments in recruiting efforts and initial onboarding programs. With an outsourced SDR, these startup expenses disappear—your provider handles all upfront sourcing and training.
One-time startup costs per SDR
| In-house | Outsourcing partner | |
|---|---|---|
| Recruiting | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Onboarding | $0.00 | Included in fees |
| Total startup cost | $0.00 |
Total per SDR Per month:
| In-house | Outsourcing partner |
|---|---|
| $0.00 | $0.00 |
This is a summary of your savings using the outsourced model:
Total savings
- Yearly savings per SDR:
- First year savings for 2 SDRs:
- Yearly savings percentage:
There is much more detail to explore regarding the comparison between in-house and outsourced SDR models. Please provide a bit of information about yourself (form to the right), and a member of our team will contact you to walk through your full, personalized report.
Discover how much you could save
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When deciding between your options, consider these five immediate advantages of outsourced model:
Better results faster:
Outsourced SDRs quickly deliver higher-quality pipeline outcomes
Rapid scalability:
Easily scale your team up or down to match your sales cycles
Less hiring hassle:
Avoid the complexities of finding, training, and retaining the right talent
Instant productivity:
Outsourced SDRs are productive immediately, eliminating ramp-up time
Reduce turnover impact:
Outsourcing shields you from costly downtime due to employee churn
Over time, both models cost less to maintain.
Outsourcing provides a controlled, predictable investment, while the costs of an in-house team are a bit more variable. While you save on the one-time set-up costs, there are still dollars you need to set aside for continuous recruiting, ongoing training, equipment, software licenses, management overhead, infrastructure maintenance and more.
Not factored in this analysis:
Global expansion: Costs associated with scaling internationally can be very expensive with the in-house model. With the right outsourced partner, global resources can be brought onto the team quickly.
Risk of turnover: Each in-house SDR departure creates costly empty seats and pipeline delays. Outsourcing avoids business disruption and downtime.
*calculations are based on uS dollars and standard rates, cost formulas and validated industry resources for hiring a US-based SDR.
- Infrastructure cost calculated at 10% of total payroll.
- Recruiting costs calculated at $180.00 per SDR.
- Payroll tax per SDR per year: (Yearly Salary + Average Annual Commission) × (Payroll Tax Rate ÷ 100)
- Benefits cost per SDR per year: Yearly Salary × (Benefits Rate ÷ 100)
- Monthly infrastructure and facilities cost per SDR: [(Yearly salary × number of SDRs + manager salary) ÷ number of SDRs] × 10% ÷ 12
- Manager cost allocation per SDR per year: Manager salary × (1 + payroll tax rate ÷ 100) ÷ number of SDRs
- Recruiting cost per SDR: $7,200 – recruiter fee of 15% of the first-year salary and minimal advertising
- Onboarding and training per SDR: $8,800 average spend on annual training per FTE, which ranges between 1-3% of the total annual budget or 2-5% of the salary budget (roughly $50.00 per $1000 of salary
- Monthly licenses and sales tools per SDR: $225 – conservative estimate, varying between industries and IT delivery models.
- Third-party research reflects significantly higher costs (average $635.42/monthly, $7,625/annually)
- Monthly turnover rate: 30% ÷ 12 = 2.5%
- Outsourced monthly fee per SDR: $11,500 – typical outsourcing monthly service