Outsourced B2B Lead Generation in the UK: What It Costs and What You Should Get (2026)

If you're thinking about outsourcing lead generation, the first question is usually "how much?" The honest answer is that prices vary hugely, and the headline number tells you very little on its own.

Two agencies can both charge £3,000 a month. One books you qualified meetings with decision-makers who have a real reason to talk. The other sends you a spreadsheet of "leads" who never asked to hear from you. Same price, very different value.

This guide covers what UK businesses actually pay in 2026, how each pricing model works, what you should expect to get for your money, and the red flags to watch for.

The quick answer

For UK B2B companies in 2026, outsourced lead generation typically costs:

• Monthly retainer: usually £3,000 to £10,000 a month, depending on channels, volume and how much of the work the agency owns.
• Pay per meeting: roughly £100 to £500 per booked meeting for most markets, and more for enterprise or hard-to-reach buyers.
• Pay per lead: anywhere from under £50 to several hundred pounds per lead, depending on how "qualified" is defined.
• An in-house SDR: often £60,000 or more a year once salary, commission, National Insurance, pension, tools and recruitment are added up.

The number that actually matters isn't any of these. It's what each qualified sales conversation costs you, and how many of them turn into customers. More on how to work that out below.

The four pricing models

1. Monthly retainer

You pay a fixed monthly fee and the agency runs your outbound: building lists, writing copy, sending, handling replies and booking meetings.

What it typically costs: UK retainers commonly sit in the £3,000 to £10,000 a month range. Some very small, narrow campaigns start lower. Multi-channel or multi-country programmes go higher.

Good for: businesses that want a consistent, ongoing pipeline and are happy to commit for a few months to let the campaigns improve.

Watch out for: retainers with no agreed outcome. If an agency can't tell you what "good" looks like after 90 days, you're paying for activity, not results. Long minimum terms with no performance clause are another warning sign.

2. Pay per meeting

You pay a fee for each meeting booked, either when it's scheduled or when it actually happens.

What it typically costs: for mainstream B2B markets, roughly £100 to £500 per meeting. Enterprise or niche buyers can cost considerably more.

Good for: testing a new market without committing to a retainer.

Watch out for: quality. When an agency is paid per meeting, the incentive is to book as many as possible. That can mean meetings with people who are too junior, have no budget, or agreed to a call just to be polite. Always agree in writing what counts as a qualified meeting, and pay per meeting held rather than booked if you can.

3. Pay per lead

You pay for each "lead" delivered. A lead might be a contact who replied positively, someone who filled in a form, or just a name and email that matches your criteria.

What it typically costs: it ranges from tens of pounds to several hundred per lead, and the spread is so wide because "lead" means different things to different agencies.

Good for: businesses with a strong sales team that just needs more people to talk to.

Watch out for: the definition. A spreadsheet of contacts is not a lead. If the agency's version of a lead is someone who hasn't asked to speak to you, your team is still doing the hard part.

4. Hybrid

A lower monthly fee plus a smaller amount per meeting or lead. It shares the risk between you and the agency.

Good for: businesses that want accountability on results without the agency cutting corners to hit volume.

Watch out for: complexity. Make sure you understand exactly what you'll pay in a good month and a bad month.

The real cost of hiring an SDR in-house

Many founders compare an agency against hiring their own sales development rep (SDR). It's worth doing the full sum.

A UK SDR's base salary typically sits somewhere in the high £20,000s to mid £30,000s, with more for experienced reps and a premium in London. Then add:

• commission or bonus
• employer's National Insurance and pension
• tools: data, email sending, a CRM, LinkedIn
• recruitment fees, often a percentage of first-year salary
• management time, which usually comes from the founder
• ramp-up time, often a few months before a new rep is fully productive
• the risk they leave within a year and you start again

Once all of that is counted, an SDR can easily cost £60,000 or more a year, which is £5,000 or more a month. And you only get one person's output, with one person's skills.

In-house can be the right call for a business with a proven sales process and someone experienced to manage the rep. For most small and growing B2B companies, outsourcing gets results faster and with less risk.

How to work out what a meeting is worth to you

Before comparing prices, work out what a qualified sales conversation is worth to your business. It takes two numbers:

• Your average first-year customer value
• Your close rate from a first sales call to a customer

Say a new customer is worth £12,000 in their first year and you close one in four qualified calls. Each qualified call is worth roughly £3,000 to you.

At that value, paying a few hundred pounds per qualified conversation is a very good deal. Paying £100 per meeting with people who'll never buy is a terrible one.

This is why the cheapest price per meeting is rarely the cheapest outcome. Quality decides the maths.

What a good lead generation agency should include

Whatever the price, this is what you should expect to get:

1. A clear definition of a qualified meeting, agreed in writing. The right seniority, the right type of company, a genuine reason to talk.
2. A target, and what happens if it's missed. "We'll do our best" isn't a target.
3. Targeting based on timing, not just job titles. Reaching companies with a reason to buy now, such as hiring, growth or a new leader, rather than blasting a static list. (Our guide to buying signals explains how this works.)
4. Messaging written for your buyers. Not a template with your company name swapped in.
5. Sending infrastructure you own. The domains and inboxes used for your outreach should belong to you, not be shared with the agency's other clients.
6. Reply handling. Someone needs to respond quickly and professionally when a prospect replies. Slow replies kill warm leads.
7. Honest reporting. Emails sent, replies, positive replies, meetings booked and meetings held, not just open rates.
8. A way to build credibility. Prospects check you out before they reply. If there's nothing to find, reply rates suffer.

Red flags

• No agreed definition of a qualified meeting or lead.
• Long contracts with no performance clause.
• Reporting on opens and clicks rather than conversations. Opens are unreliable and don't pay the bills.
• Shared sending domains. If another client damages the agency's sending reputation, your emails suffer too.
• Vague answers about who they're targeting and why.
• Promises of thousands of emails a month to unchosen lists. High volume to the wrong people damages your domain and your brand.

How the models compare

Where Go7 fits

Most outsourced lead generation fixes one part of the problem. It books meetings, but nothing makes those prospects take you seriously when they look you up.

We built Go7 around both. Acquisition is the goal: qualified sales meetings with the right companies. Authority makes it work harder. When prospects find you quoted in their trade press, more of them reply, they treat the conversation more seriously, your outreach has something credible to point to, and coverage brings in inbound enquiries of its own over time.

Here's what's included in our Managed Acquisition plan for £2,500 + VAT a month:

• 20 qualified sales meetings in 90 days. We agree what "qualified" means with you before we start.
• A guarantee. If we miss the target, we keep working with no management fee until we hit it.
• Signal-led outreach. We find companies with a live reason to buy, such as hiring, growth, new leaders, contracts and expansion, and write to them about it. That's why the conversations are better quality.
• PR signals and article press. We track press opportunities relevant to you and secure article coverage, so prospects find something credible when they search your name.
• Your own infrastructure. Domains and inboxes set up separately for you, so your sending reputation is never shared with anyone else.
• Reply handling and reporting on the numbers that matter.

On cost per meeting, 20 meetings over three months works out at £375 per qualified meeting, with press included. You can find cheaper pay-per-meeting offers. But a cheap meeting with the wrong person, from a company nobody has heard of, isn't cheap.

If authority is a bigger priority, the Acquisition + Authority plan adds deeper PR, such as research-led campaigns and more proactive media outreach. Plans start from £1,500 + VAT a month for a focused pilot. See all plans and pricing.

One recent example: outreach we run for a client booked them a meeting with a £1bn+ UK retailer. That's the kind of conversation signal-led targeting is built for.

FAQs

How much does B2B lead generation cost in the UK? Most UK retainers fall between £3,000 and £10,000 a month. Pay-per-meeting models usually charge roughly £100 to £500 per meeting. The right price depends on how valuable a customer is to you and how qualified the meetings are.

Is it cheaper to outsource lead generation or hire an SDR? For most small and growing B2B companies, outsourcing is cheaper and faster. Once salary, commission, National Insurance, pension, tools, recruitment and ramp-up are counted, an in-house SDR often costs £60,000 or more a year.

Is pay per meeting better than a retainer? Not always. Pay per meeting lowers your risk on paper, but it can push agencies towards volume over quality. A retainer with a clear outcome and a guarantee gives you the accountability without the incentive to book poor meetings.

What counts as a qualified meeting? It should be agreed with you before any work starts. Usually it means a decision-maker or strong influencer, at a company that fits your target profile, with a genuine reason to talk.

How long does outsourced lead generation take to work? Expect the first few weeks to go on setup: research, targeting, messaging and warming up sending domains. Meetings usually start coming through within the first month or two, and campaigns improve as they learn what works.

Does lead generation include PR? Usually not. Most agencies focus on outreach only. We include PR signals and article press in our Managed Acquisition plan because credibility directly affects how many prospects reply and how seriously they take the conversation.

Next step

Want to know what this would look like for your business? Get a free Growth Report. We'll show you where your best sales and press opportunities are right now, and what a realistic target would be.

Or if you're ready to talk, see how Managed Growth works.

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Price ranges in this article are based on publicly available 2026 UK market data, including salary data from Payscale and agency pricing guides from Prospeo and Cleverly. Prices vary by provider and market.