How much does a BDR cost in the UK?

On a £35,000 base, about £53,500 all in over the first seven and a half months from the day you decide. That covers commission, employer NI, pension, recruitment, tools, workspace and a fifth of a manager's time.

How long does a new BDR take to ramp?

The first call comes in around week seven, after a four-week notice period and two weeks of onboarding. They reach full speed about three months after that.

How many meetings should a BDR book?

The Bridge Group's 2025 research puts the typical target at 9 fully qualified meetings a month. It's more for SMBs, fewer for enterprise, and for the record, most BDRs miss their target.

Is outsourcing cheaper than hiring a BDR?

For a first or second BDR, usually. Once you have the infrastructure and a manager with time, adding a hire is often the better choice unless you also want to test new markets, products or services quickly.

Can I hire and outsource at the same time?

Yes. Many companies keep an outsourced team testing new markets and messages while their own team works the core market.

The true cost of a BDR: hiring vs outsourcing in the UK

It's budget season, and for a lot of B2B companies a BDR has been pencilled into next year's plan. The reason is usually the same. The people who should be selling are doing their own prospecting as well, and that's hard to sustain.

Sellers are naturally pulled towards whatever is closest to closing. Prospecting slips while they close, and once those deals are done the pipeline is empty, so they go back to prospecting. The result is a boom-and-bust pipeline, and boom-and-bust revenue to match.

Splitting those roles makes sense and a BDR is the obvious answer. Before you commit though, it's worth knowing what that hire really costs, when the first meetings arrive, and when outsourcing is the better option. This guide runs the numbers by who you sell to, and you can put in your own further down.

~£89KThe total cost in year 1 for a BDR on a £35K base
Week 7When they make their first call, counted from the day they accept your offer
~30%The year 1 attrition rate for BDRs

What a BDR really costs

Here's a BDR on a £35,000 base selling to mid-sized companies, over the first seven and a half months from the day you decide:

Pay, NI and pension, including 20% commission£27,537
Management: a fifth of a manager's time£7,583
Recruitment: the agency fee, plus the cost of replacing BDRs who move on (we assume 30% a year)£10,138
Tools and equipment£6,132
Support and workspace: HR, payroll, IT and a desk£2,153
All in~£53,500

Pay sits below the £35,000 base because the clock starts the day you choose your candidate. They work four weeks' notice first, so you're paying them for about six and a half months of the seven and a half, not a full year. A full year of pay, NI and pension would be about £50,800, and a full year all in, recruitment included, about £88,600.

The salary is the smallest part

Base salary you budget for

~£19,000

What the hire costs, all in

~£53,500

Pay, NI and pensionManagementRecruitmentTools and equipmentSupport and workspace

Six and a half months of a £35,000 base, against everything else it takes. Mid-market, same period.

When the meetings start

The salary is the easy part to plan for. The time is what catches people out.

Week 1Week 5Week 9Week 13Week 17

Hiring a BDR

NoticeOnboarding Half speedThree quartersFull speed

Vocara

OnboardingHalf speed Three quartersFull speed

Weeks one to fourThey work their notice. Some accept a counteroffer and never arrive.
Weeks five and sixOnboarding. Logins, tools, internal processes and meeting the team.
Week sevenThe first call, while they're still learning your business, your market, your data and their pitch.
The next three monthsAll being well, they build up to about half their full output in the first month, three quarters in the second and full speed in the third. On average, each meeting lands about a week after it's booked.

Hiring vs outsourcing, per meeting

Bigger companies are harder to reach, so a BDR books fewer meetings the larger the companies you sell to: about 15 a month selling to SMBs, 10 to mid-market and 6 to enterprise. About 70% of those meetings go ahead.

To keep the comparison like for like, we've matched Vocara to the meetings your hire would actually hold. One BDR selling to enterprise holds about 4 a month, below our six-a-month minimum, so there we compare your hire with our smallest programme.

Over the first seven and a half months:

You sell to	Option	Cost	Meetings held	Per meeting	First call
SMBsup to 250 staff	Hiring one BDR	£53,543	54	£999	Week 7
SMBsup to 250 staff	Vocara, 10 a month	£34,900	57	£616	Week 3
Mid-market200 to 1,500 staff	Hiring one BDR	£53,543	36	£1,468	Week 7
Mid-market200 to 1,500 staff	Vocara, 7 a month	£32,450	40	£819	Week 3
Enterprise1,000+ staff	Hiring one BDR	£53,543	21	£2,589	Week 7
Enterprise1,000+ staff	Vocara, 6 a month	£44,000	34	£1,295	Week 3

Vocara aheadAbout the same (within 10%)Hiring ahead

Even once a BDR is fully up to speed, they cost £602 a meeting selling to SMBs, £885 to mid-market and £1,561 to enterprise, against £470, £621 and £1,000 with us.

The costs a spreadsheet misses

Salary, NI, pension and tools are easy to budget for. The cost that doesn't show up on a budget line is people's time: HR onboarding a new starter, sales leaders coaching and mentoring them, and peers helping them find their feet. Our figures include a fifth of a manager. They don't include the rest.

Most of that time comes out of the sales leader's week, and their time is the most valuable in the team. And if the BDR leaves, you start again: notice, recruitment, onboarding and ramp. For many BDRs the role is a stepping stone to closing, and the Bridge Group puts average tenure at under two years.

Your three options, and when each is right

Your sellers keep prospecting
It costs nothing extra, and it keeps the boom and bust. It works while the pipeline you need is small enough for sellers to fill between deals.
Hire
If the infrastructure is already in place (data, tools, a process and someone with time to manage) and you're adding one more person to an existing BDR team, hire. Nine times out of ten that's the right call.
Outsource
If it's your first or second BDR and little is already set up for them, outsourcing usually costs less and starts sooner, for at least as many meetings. You also don't need to know everything from day one, because you're using the agency's experience of strategy, campaigns and messaging.

Life isn't binary and nor is revenue generation. It doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both. An outsourced team alongside your own can test a new market, message or proposition quickly, without pulling your team off its core work.

The smart move is to build the capability in-house over time, using knowledge and experience built from your outsourced team.

What a good outsourced team looks like

Accountable for meetingsThe number is agreed up front and reported every week.
Experienced BDRsSo you're not paying for someone to learn the job.
AI behind peopleAI and technology make those people more efficient and more effective, but a human has every conversation with your buyers.
Less riskNo performance plans, no notice periods, and no empty seat when someone moves on.
Open by defaultYou should be able to hear what was said on every call that led to a meeting.
Quick to adaptMessaging, lists and targeting change week by week as the conversations show what's working.

That's how we've built Vocara: human-led and agent-supported, with experienced BDRs on the phone.

Hiring a BDR in 2027? What it actually costs, and when they'll start delivering