Four ways to build outbound.
One of them leaves you owning the machine.
What you pay for and what you keep.
| Option | You pay | After 12 months you own | Cost curve | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead gen agency | $800 to $2,500 per meeting | Nothing. Their domains, their lists, their process | Flat forever | Billing per meeting rewards volume, not quality |
| Autonomous AI SDR | $2k to $5k monthly per tool | A subscription | Flat | The category churned 50 to 70 percent of customers in a year |
| First in-house hire | $100k+ yearly fully loaded | One person's know-how | Flat plus ramp time | Six to nine months to productivity, one stack of experience, single point of failure |
| GTME managed system | Build project, then a monthly retainer | Domains, data, licences and a documented repo | Cost per meeting falls as the system learns | We say no to pure pay per lead and to pre product-market-fit companies |
Cost per meeting, side by side.
The retainer figure uses a mid-range $5k monthly engagement divided by your meeting target. A system compounds: warmer domains, sharper signals, better hypotheses. The per meeting agency price is the market rate and does not fall. Build cost is not included here because it is a one time investment in an asset you keep.
The objections, answered straight.
Why not just pay you per meeting?
Because pay per meeting pays us to spam. Billed per meeting, any agency maximises volume: pushy sequences, burned domains and meetings that never convert to pipeline. We build the machine first, prove it converts, then gladly tie part of the fee to booked meetings. Sequence matters: asset first, performance second.
Why not hire in-house instead?
Eventually you probably should, and we build for that day. Everything is documented and yours, so a future hire inherits a running system instead of a graveyard of tabs. Today the talent pool is tiny, a first hire takes six to nine months to recruit and ramp, and one person sees one stack. We see dozens. Many clients keep the retainer after hiring: their engineer runs strategy, we run the plumbing.
What about the AI SDR tools?
The autonomous wave already broke: 50 to 70 percent of customers churned within a year. What outperforms is the hybrid: agents execute, a human approves, somebody carries responsibility in writing. That is exactly what our systems run.
We are PLG. Is outbound even for us?
Product-led companies adding a sales motion are the strongest outbound converts, because you already sit on usage signals most companies would kill for. The common regret we hear from PLG leaders is waiting too long to start.
Still comparing? Good.
Bring your numbers to a 30 minute call. If another option fits you better, we will tell you which one.
or read about the diagnosis