Quick answer
Pick done-for-you outbound if you need meetings within a quarter, nobody on your team has run outbound and you don't yet know if it works in your market. Hire your first SDR if outbound already books meetings for you, someone will manage the rep every week and outbound will be permanent. Six months of a US SDR at The Bridge Group's 2025 median pay costs about $49,800 on my assumptions, and with a 3.0-month average ramp about half of that is ramp. A published email and LinkedIn retainer costs €18,000 for the same six months and sends from about day 14. There's a third option: a fractional Head of GTM or a consultant builds the list, copy and sending first, so your hire starts on a system that already works.
What you're really choosing
I've booked 2000+ meetings for B2B clients on cold email and LinkedIn. These days my side of this decision is the setup: deciding with a team who to target and building the system their first rep will run.
Founders who ask "should I hire an SDR?" want meetings with the right buyers, and a hire is the obvious way to get them. The catch: a first SDR is often asked to do two jobs. One is building the system: picking accounts, finding contacts, writing copy, setting up sending. The other is running it: sending, following up, booking. Hire someone to run the system, not to find out whether there is one. So there are three options:
- Done-for-you outbound. A service builds and runs it: list, copy, sending and replies. Some include an SDR of their own who also calls.
- Your first SDR. A full-time hire who runs outreach and usually builds whatever is missing.
- Build first, then hire. A fractional Head of GTM or a consultant sets up the targeting, data, copy and sending inside your team. Your SDR joins and runs it.
Where I stand. The third option is what I sell: I work with teams as a fractional Head of GTM or set up the outbound function inside their team, from EUR 2990 a month. Done-for-you outbound is sold by Shipyard GTM (my agency), which quotes a fixed monthly price after a call. So I compete with the services named below, and none of them pays me. Their prices come from their own sites, checked on 14 October 2026.
What has to exist before anyone books a meeting
Whoever runs outbound needs the same things in place. The options differ in who builds them.
| What has to exist | Done-for-you | First SDR hire | Build first, then hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who you target and why | The service, with your input | Often the SDR, with you | The consultant, with you |
| Contact data | The service, often included in the fee | The SDR, with tools you pay for | The consultant sets it up, the SDR keeps it going |
| Copy and sequences | The service | The SDR, unless you write it | The consultant first, then the SDR |
| Domains and mailboxes, warmed for 3 to 4 weeks | The service (ask whose name they're in) | The SDR or you | The consultant, in your own accounts |
| A weekly review of replies and meetings | The service reports, you give feedback | You | The consultant at first, then you |
| The sales call | You | You | You |
When I set up outbound for a team, email and LinkedIn run in one sequence, so the list and the copy are built for both channels from day one. Whoever builds it, check that the channels you want are part of the setup.
One test before any of the three. Can you write this paragraph today?
"We sell [product] to [job title] at [type of company, size, country]. They buy when [trigger, for example a new office or a new funding round]. Our three best customers are [names]. The first email names [one problem] and asks if it's worth a conversation."
If you can't, start there. A rep or a service will send more of whatever you give them.
Month by month: when meetings can start
| When | Done-for-you | First SDR hire | Build first, then hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before month 1 | Contract and kickoff | Recruiting, which can take weeks | Contract and kickoff, recruiting starts |
| Month 1 | Setup. Ripe Leads and CIENCE both say first sends go out within 14 days, and Ripe Leads says first interested replies usually come in weeks 3 to 4 | The SDR builds the list and sets up domains, which need 3 to 4 weeks of warmup | The consultant maps the accounts, builds data and copy and warms the domains |
| Months 2 and 3 | Sending at volume, adjusting segments and messages | Ramp: The Bridge Group's average is 3.0 months | The SDR joins and ramps on a system that already sends |
| Months 4 to 6 | Running. You decide whether to keep it, hire or both | Full speed, if the hire works out. The median quota is 10 held meetings a month, and 60% of SDRs hit quota | The SDR runs it, the consultant steps back |
The ramp is the part people underestimate. Even a good hire spends about half of the first six months getting to full speed, and an SDR who also has to build the list and the domains takes longer. Plan for it rather than hoping your hire beats the average.
Six months, priced: a cost model
Swap in your own numbers. Mine:
- US SDR. The Bridge Group's 2025 SDR report (351 B2B companies) puts median on-target earnings at $80,000: $55,000 base and $25,000 variable. I add 20% for employer taxes and benefits and $300 a month for tools, so about $8,300 a month at target.
- SDR in Lithuania. €2,300 to €3,200 a month including tools, from my Baltics outbound budget.
- Done-for-you prices. Ripe Leads: €3,750 for the first month, then €2,850, tools and data included. CIENCE: $2,000 for the campaign team, $499 for the platform and $2,500 for one SDR in Europe, plus setup quoted on the call and a bonus per SDR from 60% of target. SalesRoads: $11,950 per four weeks for one SDR on phone and email.
- Build first. A Lithuanian SDR for six months plus a fractional lead for the first three. I've used €3,000 a month for the lead as a round number. Put in the quotes you get.
| Option | Six months | First sends | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Done-for-you retainer, email and LinkedIn (Ripe Leads) | €18,000 | By day 14 | One program run for you, tools and data included |
| Done-for-you with 1 SDR in Europe (CIENCE) | $29,994 plus setup and bonus | Within 14 days, by its page | A campaign team, the platform and one SDR |
| Done-for-you with 1 SDR on phone and email (SalesRoads) | $71,700 for 24 weeks | Not stated on the page | A dedicated SDR plus a support team |
| First SDR in Lithuania | €13,800 to €19,200 | After hiring and warmup | A full-time person who still needs a system |
| First SDR in the US at median pay | About $49,800 | After hiring and warmup | The same, at US pay |
| Build first: SDR in Lithuania plus a fractional lead for 3 months | €22,800 to €28,200 | After 3 to 4 weeks of warmup | A system in your own accounts and a person to run it |
The rows buy different things. A Lithuanian SDR is a person without a system. The retainer is a system without a person on your payroll. CIENCE and SalesRoads add an SDR on the phone. And the in-house rows start the salary in month one: with a 3.0-month average ramp, the US hire gives you about three months at full speed for $49,800.
To compare on output, turn each option into a cost per held meeting. I do that for most of these options at 5 and 10 held meetings a month in fractional SDR vs agency vs in-house SDR, and the full list of published agency prices is in how much an outbound agency costs.
What can go wrong with each
Your first SDR
- Two jobs in one seat. Asked to build and run, a junior rep learns targeting and copy live, on your buyers.
- Nobody to manage them. Someone has to review replies and calls every week. At a small company that's often the founder.
- They leave. The Bridge Group reports a 40% median annual SDR attrition and an average tenure of 1.9 years. When a first SDR goes, the pipeline pauses and whatever they didn't write down goes with them.
Done-for-you
- The know-how sits outside. The service learns which segments reply and which messages land. Unless you get that in writing, your team doesn't.
- The contract decides what you keep. Ripe Leads hands over the domains, copy, contacts reached and reply threads during its 28-day notice, and the full target list after six months of fees. Ask every provider the same question.
- What counts as a meeting. Agree in writing: held or booked, which titles, which company sizes.
Build first, then hire
- You pay before meetings come. The first month is setup and warmup.
- You still have to hire well. A good system won't save a poor hire, and someone on your team has to own it once the consultant steps back.
Two bets in one hire. If outbound hasn't booked meetings for you yet, a first SDR is a bet that outbound works in your market and a bet that this person can make it work. A service, or a build before the hire, lets you take the first bet on its own.
Pick done-for-you, a first SDR or build first
Pick done-for-you outbound if
- you need meetings within a quarter;
- nobody on your team has run outbound, and nobody has hours to manage a rep;
- you want to know if outbound works in your market before you add headcount.
Hire your first SDR if
- outbound already books meetings for you, from the founder or an earlier test, and you need more hours on it;
- someone will review the rep's work every week;
- outbound will be a permanent function and you can carry a 3-month ramp.
Build first, then hire, if
- you want outbound in-house for the long run, but nobody has built it;
- you'd rather your SDR's first months go into selling than into setting up domains;
- you want the targeting, copy and playbook written down in your own accounts.
A service now and a hire later works too, if the contract lets you keep the domains, data and copy and you start hiring a quarter before the service ends. I cover that handover, and the bigger choice between an agency and a whole team, in outbound agency vs in-house.
Key takeaways
- A first SDR is often asked to build the outbound system and run it. Those are two jobs.
- Six months of a US SDR at median pay is about $49,800 on my assumptions, and about half of it is the 3.0-month average ramp.
- A published email and LinkedIn retainer costs €18,000 for six months and sends by day 14. Services with an SDR on the phone cost more: $29,994 at CIENCE before setup and bonus, $71,700 for 24 weeks at SalesRoads.
- Building first, then hiring, costs €22,800 to €28,200 over six months on my assumptions, and the hire starts on a system that already sends.
- Hire when outbound already books meetings and someone will manage the rep. Use a service when you need meetings this quarter or don't yet know if outbound works for you.
FAQ
Is done-for-you outbound cheaper than hiring an SDR?
Against a US hire, yes over six months: €18,000 for a published email and LinkedIn retainer or $29,994 for one European SDR at CIENCE before setup and bonus, against about $49,800 for a US SDR at median pay. A Lithuanian SDR costs €13,800 to €19,200, but comes without a list, copy or warm domains.
How long does it take a new SDR to start booking meetings?
The Bridge Group's 2025 report puts the average SDR ramp at 3.0 months. Add hiring time plus 3 to 4 weeks of warmup if the sending domains are new.
How much does an SDR cost per month?
In the US, median on-target earnings are $80,000 a year ($55,000 base, $25,000 variable). With 20% employer costs and $300 a month of tools, that's about $8,300 a month. In Lithuania, €2,300 to €3,200 a month including tools, on my assumptions.
When should a startup hire its first SDR?
When three things are true: outbound already books meetings for you, someone will review the rep's work every week and outbound will be a permanent function. Before that, the hire learns targeting and copy on your buyers.
Can I hire an SDR after using a done-for-you service?
Yes, if the contract lets you keep the sending domains, mailboxes, lead list, copy and reply history. Start hiring a few months before you end the service, because the new SDR will need about 3 months to ramp.