Cape Solutions UK
Pricing & Costs

What Does an Outsourced Sales Team Cost?

The honest answer is: it depends on the model you choose. Here's a clear breakdown of the three ways UK businesses buy sales capacity — and what actually drives the price.

The short answer

There's no single price — but there are three clear options

Anyone who quotes you a flat “cost of an outsourced sales team” before understanding your business is guessing. What a sales function costs depends entirely on how you buy it. Broadly, UK businesses choose between three routes — hiring in-house, paying a UK agency retainer, or partnering with a dedicated offshore professional. Each carries a very different cost profile, and the cheapest sticker price is rarely the cheapest overall.

The figures below are typical UK market ranges, shared so you can budget honestly. They are not our rates. Cape Solutions prices to your specific role and seniority, which is why our numbers come on a call rather than a price list.

In-house UK hire

£50k+ all-in
realistic year-one cost of one SDR

A permanent employee on your payroll. Full control, but the sticker salary is only the start of the true cost.

  • £30k–£45k base salary for a UK SDR
  • Employer NI, pension, holiday and sick cover on top
  • Recruitment fees, tooling, desk and management time
  • You carry the bad-hire and early-leaver risk

UK agency retainer

£3k–£5k / month
typical campaign retainer

A UK agency runs a campaign for you. Fast to start, but you rent an outcome rather than owning a named person.

  • Commonly billed as a monthly retainer
  • Campaign-based — usually no dedicated headcount
  • Reps often split across several clients
  • Little say over who actually works your accounts

Dedicated offshore professional

Up to 70% saving
vs UK employment cost

Cape's model. A dedicated, named professional in your stack and your timezone — a simple monthly seat fee, typically £1,200–£1,600 depending on the role.

  • A named person who works only for you
  • Recruitment, HR, payroll and training handled
  • Aligned to UK/EU working hours
  • Significant saving against a UK hire
The three ways to buy sales capacity

What each route really costs

1. Hiring an in-house UK SDR

A permanent hire gives you the most control and the closest cultural fit — but the advertised salary is only part of the story. A UK sales development rep commonly commands a base of £30,000 to £45,000. On top of that sit employer National Insurance, auto-enrolment pension, holiday and sick cover, tooling and software licences, a desk, and the management time it takes to lead them. Add a recruitment fee to land the person in the first place, plus the very real risk that an early hire doesn't work out.

Once you total the hidden costs, a single SDR realistically lands north of £50,000 in year one. That's before you've factored in the weeks of ramp-up before they're productive. It's a sound choice if you have the volume and management bandwidth to justify it — but it's a bigger commitment than the headline salary suggests.

2. A UK agency retainer

Outsourcing to a UK lead-generation or telemarketing agency is quick to switch on. Retainers commonly run from around £3,000 to £5,000 a month, billed against a campaign rather than a person. That buys you activity and, done well, results — but you rarely get a dedicated headcount. The reps working your list are typically shared across several clients, and you have little say over who they are or how much of their week your accounts get.

It suits short bursts and one-off campaigns. Where it falls short is continuity: when the retainer ends, the knowledge and relationships leave with it, and you're renting an outcome rather than building capability inside your business.

3. A dedicated offshore professional — the Cape model

The third route pairs the dedication of an in-house hire with a materially lower cost. You get a named, full-time professional based in South Africa who works only for your business, sits inside your workflow and tools, and represents your brand — aligned to UK and EU working hours. Because South African salary levels are lower than the UK's, the model can save you up to 70% against the true cost of an equivalent UK employee, without the corner-cutting of a shared campaign.

Our pricing is simple: a one-off £1,500 setup fee covering recruitment, vetting and training, then a monthly seat fee of £1,200–£1,600 depending on the role — inclusive of salary, HR, payroll, equipment and workspace. The exact figure within that range depends on the role and seniority you need, and we'll confirm it on a short call. See why we build teams in South Africa and how the model works in practice.

Two professionals reviewing outsourcing costs on a laptop
What affects the price

Four things that shape your quote

When we scope a role with you, these are the factors that move the number. None of them are complicated — they're simply the honest variables behind any “how much does an outsourced SDR cost?” question.

Role and function

An SDR opening conversations, an appointment setter booking meetings, a telesales closer and a customer service agent are different jobs. The remit shapes the rate.

Seniority and experience

A seasoned closer who can hold a commercial conversation costs more than someone earlier in their career — and often earns their premium back quickly.

Hours and coverage

Standard UK/EU business hours are straightforward. Extended coverage, weekend cover or split shifts across time zones change the picture.

Management and tooling

How much day-to-day management and reporting you want from us, plus the CRM, dialler and licences involved, all feed into a tailored quote.

The role you need drives most of the answer. Whether that's construction sales, recruitment resourcing, appointment setting, tech sales or customer service, see the full range on our services page and we'll price to the brief.

True cost comparison

What a UK hire really costs vs Cape Solutions

Move the sliders to model your own scenario. UK figures assume a £30,000 base salary and are built from HMRC, CIPD and CBRE data — sources listed below.

Adjust your scenario
Cape Solutions
Outsourced agent · Year 1 total
One-off setup fee
£1,500
Per seat fee (12 months)
£16,800
Commission (12 months)
£6,000
Year 1 total
Year 2+ onwards: £22,800 (no setup fee)
£24,300
Included at no extra cost
  • Employer NI & payroll tax
  • Holiday & sick cover
  • Recruitment & HR
  • Desk, equipment & workspace
  • Line-management overhead
UK Permanent Employee
£30,000 base salary · true annual cost
Base Salary
£30,000
Employer NI (13.8% above £9,100)
£2,899
Employer Pension (3% min)
£900
Holiday Pay (28 days, 10.8%)
£3,240
Sick Cover (6.5 days avg / yr)
£750
Recruitment Agency Fee (15%)
£4,500
Onboarding & Training
£1,500
Desk, IT & Workspace
£3,500
HR & Management Overhead
£2,000
Bad-Hire Risk (amortised)
£3,000
Year 1 true total
Hidden costs above base: £22,289
£52,289
£27,989
Saving per agent · Year 1
54%
Cost reduction
£27,989
Total saving · Year 1

Sources & assumptions: HMRC NI thresholds (2024/25, £9,100 secondary threshold, 13.8% employer rate). Holiday based on UK statutory 28 days inclusive of bank holidays. Sick cover from the CIPD 2024 Health & Wellbeing Report (avg 6.5 days). Workspace cost from CBRE UK regional office data. Recruitment assumes agency placement at 15% of salary. Bad-hire risk uses 50% probability of a £6,000 replacement (CIPD). Latent costs not included in the headline: reduced productivity from presenteeism and employment-tribunal exposure (average awards can exceed £10,000). Cape Solutions figures: one-off setup £1,500, seat fee £1,200–£1,600, commission variable. Year 2+ per-agent cost excludes the setup fee.

What's included

One arrangement, not a stack of hidden costs

With a UK hire, the salary is only the beginning — you also carry recruitment, HR, payroll, equipment and management on your own books. With Cape Solutions, those sit with us. Your figure covers everything needed to keep a dedicated professional productive from day one.

It's the same philosophy that runs through why UK businesses choose us: you focus on selling, we handle the employment overhead.

Included as standard
  • Recruitment and vetting to find the right person
  • HR, payroll and employer compliance handled for you
  • Onboarding and ongoing training
  • Desk, equipment and workspace
  • Line-management and reporting support
  • Replacement cover if a placement isn't working out
Pricing FAQs

Common questions about cost

Consultant discussing pricing on a video call

Still weighing it up? Our guide to the ROI of in-house versus outsourced SDRs works through the numbers in more detail.

Dig deeper into the numbers

Get a tailored quote for your role

Tell us the role, the hours and the outcome you're after, and we'll give you an honest figure — no flat-rate guesswork, no obligation.

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