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In-house vs agency lead generation - Newlead
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Total cost, year one “Expect roughly $6,500 to $8,500 per month fully loaded for one in-house SDR, against £3K-£12K per month for a done-for-you retainer.” Using 2026 market data from RepVue and RevPilots, a B2B SDR in a developed market sits at $55,000 to $62,000 base, with on-target earnings around $83,000 to $85,000. Add tools at $500 to $1,500 per month for data, sequencing and inbox infrastructure. Add 3 to 5 hours of management per week from someone senior enough to fix broken copy.
The decision comes down to three things. How fast you need pipeline. How much fixed cost you can carry while nothing happens. And who absorbs the risk if the first version of the messaging does not land. “One hire is not one engine. It is one seat inside an engine that still needs to be built around them.” Total cost, year one
When in-house wins “In-house wins above roughly $5M ARR when you have a defined RevOps function and a 24-month runway.” It also wins when your ICP is narrow and stable. If your reps talk to the same fifteen job titles every day, the tenth month of learning is worth more than the first, and that learning stays with you.
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Ownership and lock-in “A good agency builds your sending domains, your inboxes, your lists and your sequences on infrastructure you retain, so you can walk away with a working engine rather than a gap.” Avoid any setup where everything sits inside the agency's own tools and accounts. It looks tidy at the start. It becomes leverage the moment you consider leaving, because switching means rebuilding from nothing and warming new domains for weeks.