Key Takeaways
- Cold calling is far from dead: the average cold call success rate hit 4.82% in 2024, and 82% of buyers say they've accepted a meeting from a cold call Cognism, REsimpli.
- Don't compare internal vs offshore on hourly rates alone-compare fully loaded cost per qualified meeting and per dollar of pipeline created.
- A productive in-house SDR often costs $9,750–$14,425 per month all-in, while outsourced/ offshored models can cut lead gen costs by 40-60% for many companies OutboundSalesPro, Artemis Leads.
- Offshore cold calling can deliver more than 40% labor-cost savings in markets like the Philippines and India, but those savings disappear fast if you don't tightly manage quality, messaging, and compliance Proficient Market Insights.
- B2B buyers are brutally unforgiving of bad outreach—61% prefer a rep-free experience and 73% avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach, so whoever calls (internal or offshore) has to be highly targeted and well-trained Gartner.
- Hybrid models (onshore SDRs for strategic conversations, offshore support for research and lower-complexity calling) often beat pure internal or pure offshore setups on both cost and quality.
- Bottom line: if your deals are high-value, complex, and brand-sensitive, lean heavily on internal or US-based SDRs; if your motion is high-volume, lower ACV, and highly scripted, offshore can drive strong ROI-especially when paired with a specialist partner like SalesHive.
Cold calling is still one of the most reliable ways to create pipeline, with an average success rate of 4.82% in 2024 and 82% of buyers saying they’ve taken a meeting from a cold call. This guide walks B2B leaders through the real trade-offs between hiring an internal SDR team and offshoring cold calling, using current cost benchmarks, quality considerations, and a decision framework to choose the right model for your revenue goals.
Introduction
If you’re leading B2B sales right now, you’re probably wrestling with one brutal question:
“Do I build my own cold calling team, or do I send it offshore and save a ton of cash?”
On one side, you’ve got internal SDRs: more control, tighter alignment, but eye-watering fully loaded costs. On the other, offshore teams promising cheap dials and fast ramp-along with horror stories about burned territories and robotic scripts.
Meanwhile, the channel itself still works. The average cold call success rate (conversations to meetings) hit 4.82% in 2024, and 82% of buyers say they’ve accepted a meeting from a cold call. Cognism, REsimpli That’s the difference between a full or empty pipeline.
This guide breaks down hiring a cold calling team: internal vs. offshore from a pure B2B sales development perspective. We’ll cover:
- What “internal” vs. “offshore” really means in 2025
- The true cost math behind each model (not just salary vs. hourly)
- How quality, brand risk, and deal complexity should drive your decision
- A practical decision framework you can apply to your own org
- How agencies like SalesHive blend US-based and Philippines-based SDRs to get the best of both worlds
By the end, you’ll have a clear playbook for which route to take-and how to make it work without lighting your budget (or your reputation) on fire.
Why Cold Calling Still Matters in 2025
Let’s kill the “cold calling is dead” myth first.
Multiple recent studies show phone outbound is still a core pipeline engine:
- Cognism’s State of Cold Calling report found a 4.82% meeting rate from conversations in 2024-double the previous year. Cognism
- REsimpli’s aggregated data shows general cold call success rates around 2-3%, with B2B closer to 5%, and top performers hitting ~15% call-to-meeting rates. REsimpli
- That same dataset reports 82% of buyers have said yes to a meeting from a cold call and 18% of cold calls become high-quality leads. REsimpli
So no, the phone isn’t dead. It’s just more unforgiving.
At the same time, buyer expectations have changed:
- A 2025 Gartner survey found 61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep‑free buying experience overall, and 73% actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. Gartner
Translation: buyers don’t hate phone calls-they hate bad phone calls.
That’s why the choice between internal vs. offshore cold calling isn’t just a finance problem. It’s a buyer experience problem.
Internal vs. Offshore: What You’re Actually Choosing
Before you decide, you need clean definitions. People toss “offshore” and “outsourced” around like they mean the same thing. They don’t.
Internal (In-House) Cold Calling Team
What it is:
- SDRs are your employees, on your payroll.
- They may be in-office or remote, but they’re usually in your primary market (e.g., US‑based if you’re a US company).
- You own hiring, training, coaching, tools, and process.
Pros:
- Maximum control over hiring profile, training, and culture
- Tight daily alignment with marketing, product, and AEs
- Easier to evolve messaging for complex or fast-changing products
- Stronger sense of brand ownership and accountability
Cons:
- Highest fully loaded cost per productive rep
- 3-6 months to recruit, onboard, and ramp
- You must bring your own SDR playbooks, managers, and tech stack
Onshore Outsourced Team (US-Based SDR Agency)
What it is:
- SDRs are employees of a specialist agency (like SalesHive) but operate in your home market and act as an extension of your team.
- You pay a monthly fee instead of hiring headcount.
Pros:
- Access to trained, managed SDRs and proven playbooks on day one
- Typically 2-4 weeks to launch vs. months for in-house
- Often lower TCO than building an equivalent capability yourself
- Agency handles hiring, QA, reporting, and tooling
Cons:
- Less direct control over individual reps
- Requires clear communication and SLAs to stay aligned
- Perceived as more expensive than offshore-only options
Offshore Outsourced Team
What it is:
- SDRs work in lower-cost regions (e.g., Philippines, India, LATAM, Eastern Europe).
- Hired via BPOs, SDR agencies, or dedicated remote-staffing firms.
Pros:
- Labor arbitrage: huge structural cost advantage
- Often very strong work ethic and call-center experience
- 24/7 coverage and multilingual capabilities for global motions
Cons:
- Potential language, accent, and cultural gaps for certain markets
- Requires strong playbooks and QA to maintain brand quality
- Time zone and management friction if your internal team isn’t set up for it
- More complex around data security and regulatory requirements
Realistically, your decision isn’t binary. Many B2B orgs use some combination of all three:
- Internal SDRs for strategic accounts
- Onshore agencies for consistent pipeline production
- Offshore teams for list building, enrichment, and high-volume/low-ACV campaigns
The trick is knowing where each model shines.
The Real Cost Math: Internal vs. Offshore
Everyone loves to compare an SDR’s salary to an offshore rep’s hourly rate. That’s how you get bad decisions.
Let’s walk through the total cost of ownership (TCO) instead.
The True Cost of an Internal SDR Seat
A recent breakdown of in-house vs. outsourced SDR costs shows that a productive in-house SDR in North America typically runs:
- Cash compensation (OTE/12): $6,250–$8,750/month
- Employer burden (taxes/benefits): $1,375–$1,900/month
- Tools & data: $475–$1,000/month
- Enablement & QA: $100–$200/month
- Management allocation: $1,250–$1,875/month
- Ops/marketing support: $300–$650/month
That yields an estimated monthly TCO of $9,750–$14,425 per productive SDR, with a “typical” scenario around $12,010/month. OutboundSalesPro
And that’s after ramp. In the first 3-4 months, you’re often eating 30-50% productivity loss while still paying full freight.
Now zoom out one level. Another analysis found that a small in-house pod of 2 SDRs + 1 manager often costs $300,000–$400,000 per year all-in once you include salaries, tools, turnover, and overhead. Artemis Leads
Internal isn’t bad. It’s just expensive-and you need to use it where it counts.
Offshore Economics: Why It’s So Much Cheaper
Offshore providers benefit from huge wage differentials. For example:
- The average monthly salary in the Philippines was about 18,423 PHP (~$339) in 2022.
- The average monthly salary in the US was about $4,588 in the same period. Financial Times
That structural gap is why call center outsourcing markets exist at all-global call and contact center outsourcing hit $102.6B in 2024 and is projected to more than double by 2034. Precedence Research
Analysts estimate companies regularly achieve labor cost savings of 40% or more by offshoring call center work to markets like the Philippines and India, and about 65% of enterprises cite cost optimization and operational efficiency as their primary reason for outsourcing. Proficient Market Insights
When you combine that with the fact that 65%+ of global enterprises outsource some portion of customer engagement processes already,BusinessResearchInsights the trend is clear: offshore is mainstream.
Outsourcing vs. In-House: Not Just Offshoring
Even without going offshore, specialized SDR/lead gen partners can be meaningfully cheaper than building your own team.
One benchmark: a B2B lead-gen provider reported that outsourcing lead generation can save 40-60% compared with in-house, with:
- In-house: $20,000–$30,000 per month for a small SDR pod
- Outsourced: $6,000–$15,000 per month, or $150–$600 per qualified lead, including tools and expertiseArtemis Leads
So yes, offshore and outsourced models are typically cheaper. But the question you should be asking is:
> “What’s my cost per qualified meeting and per dollar of pipeline at the end of the quarter?”
If an internal SDR costs 2x more but generates 3x the qualified pipeline, that rep is a bargain.
Quality, Brand, and Buyer Experience: Where Cheap Gets Expensive
Costs are easy to measure. The stuff that really hurts-brand damage, burned accounts, and missed deals-shows up quietly, months later.
Language, Accent, and Cultural Fit
Countries like the Philippines have built a massive BPO industry on strong English proficiency and neutral accents. The Philippines ranks among the top countries in Asia for English skills, with a “high proficiency” classification and a global ranking around 20th in recent EF English Proficiency Index reports. SBS / EF EPI
For many transactional or mid-market B2B motions, well-trained Filipino reps perform extremely well-as thousands of SaaS and services companies have discovered.
Where things break down is when:
- The value prop is complex and requires nuanced explanation
- You’re calling C‑suite or board-level buyers in conservative industries
- Your ICP expects polished, local-sounding interactions as table stakes
In those situations, accent plus cultural nuance plus domain knowledge can make or break the call in the first 5 seconds.
Relevance Is Everything (and Harder to Manage Offshore)
Remember the Gartner stat: 73% of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach. Gartner
The further your callers are from your core team, the harder it is to:
- Keep messaging aligned with new product launches and positioning shifts
- Share real-time feedback from AEs and the field
- Spot when a script has gone stale or is missing key objections
That doesn’t mean offshore teams can’t be relevant. It means you must be more deliberate about playbooks, training, and feedback loops.
Data Security and Compliance
If you sell into regulated industries (healthcare, fintech, government), you can’t ignore:
- Where your data is stored and accessed
- How your vendor handles PII
- Whether you have proper agreements in place for GDPR/CCPA and similar laws
Offshore can still work here, but you’ll want:
- Role-based access controls and strict permissioning in your CRM
- Clear data-handling policies and audit trails
- Possibly keeping the highest-risk segments with internal or onshore teams only
Again, the point isn’t “offshore is risky.” It’s that you’re trading low labor costs for higher governance overhead.
Operational Reality: Managing Internal vs. Offshore SDRs
Once you get past the spreadsheet, you’re left with the day-to-day grind of actually running a cold calling engine.
Managing an Internal SDR Team
With internal SDRs, you own everything:
- Recruiting and interviewing
- Onboarding and ramp
- Daily coaching and call reviews
- Playbook iteration
- Performance management and career paths
That’s a lot-but it also means:
- Your SDRs hear product and market updates first-hand
- They can collaborate with AEs on account strategy
- You can tightly control quality and brand voice
The catch: someone has to be the SDR leader. If your VP Sales is already maxed out, and you don’t have a strong SDR manager, even an in-house team will underperform.
Managing Offshore Teams
Offshore adds a layer of complexity:
- Time zones: your morning is their night
- Cultural norms: different expectations around initiative vs. following scripts
- Communication: more async, more written instructions, more documentation
To make offshore work, you need:
- Crystal-clear outbound playbooks (ICP, talk tracks, objection handling)
- Rigorous QA: call recording, scoring, and feedback every week
- A vendor that provides real front-line management, not just a project coordinator
If you’re not prepared to invest in that level of structure, an offshore model can quickly devolve into high-volume, low-relevance noise.
Hybrid Often Wins in the Real World
In practice, some of the best-performing B2B outbound programs use a hybrid structure:
- Internal or onshore SDRs handle:
- Strategic accounts
- High ACV opportunities
- Expansion/upsell plays
- Post-demo follow-ups
- Offshore teams handle:
- List building and data enrichment
- Reactivation of old or low-intent leads
- First-pass qualification for long-tail segments
- Lower-ACV or international motions with well-defined scripts
This lets you put your highest-skill, highest-cost sellers on the most leveraged conversations, while allowing lower-cost resources to keep the top of the funnel moving.
Decision Framework: Internal vs. Offshore for Your Motion
Enough theory. Let’s build a simple framework you can actually use.
Step 1: Score Your Motion on Complexity and ACV
Ask yourself:
- Average deal size (ACV):
- Under $10k → more flexible, offshore more viable
- $10k–$50k → depends on buyer type and cycle length
- $50k+ → be careful with fully offshoring first-touch calls
- Buying committee complexity:
- 1-2 stakeholders in SMB → offshore easier to execute
- 5+ stakeholders in mid-market/enterprise → internal or US-based SDRs shine
- Sales cycle & product complexity:
- Simple, transactional, short cycle → offshore viable
- Multi-step, consultative, heavy ROI story → closer to home
Add it up:
- Low complexity + low ACV: offshore is very attractive
- Medium complexity or mid-ACV: hybrid/onshore agency works well
- High complexity + high ACV: lean internal or US-based as your foundation
Step 2: Assess Your Managerial Capacity
Do you have (or can you realistically hire):
- A strong SDR leader who knows how to coach calls, build cadences, and manage pipeline from day one?
- RevOps support to maintain sequences, data quality, and attribution?
If the answer is no, then:
- Building internal from scratch will be slow and painful.
- Partnering with a specialist SDR agency (onshore or hybrid) can shortcut years of trial and error.
Step 3: Decide What You’re Optimizing For This Year
Your decision might change as you grow. For the next 12 months, what’s the priority?
- Speed to pipeline: go with an established agency that can launch in 2-4 weeks and iterate quickly.
- Long-term control: start building internal, but consider a bridge solution (agency or offshore) while you hire and ramp.
- Cost minimization: use offshore for high-volume motions, but keep an internal or US-based core for messaging and key segments.
Step 4: Model Scenarios Side-by-Side
Build three simple models:
- Internal SDR pod (e.g., 2 SDRs + manager)
- Onshore SDR agency (e.g., SalesHive Growth or Crush package)
- Offshore or hybrid vendor (e.g., mixed US + Philippines team)
For each, estimate over 12 months:
- Total cash outlay
- Expected meetings booked
- Expected opportunities created
- Pipeline generated (meetings × win rate × ASP)
Then calculate:
- Cost per qualified meeting
- Cost per $1 of pipeline created
Make your decision on those numbers, not just on salary vs. hourly rate.
Step 5: Start with a 90-Day Test, Not a 3-Year Bet
Cold calling is empirical. Instead of debating endlessly:
- Launch a 90-day pilot with the model (or models) that look best on paper.
- Agree upfront on success criteria (meetings, cost/meeting, pipeline).
- At 90 days, either double down, pivot to a hybrid, or shut it down and try the next option.
How This Applies to Your Sales Team (Concrete Examples)
Let’s make this real with a few scenarios.
Scenario 1: Seed/Series A SaaS, ACV ~$12k
You’ve got:
- A founder-led sales motion
- Light AE capacity
- A handful of positive case studies
You don’t have:
- SDR leadership
- Battle-tested outbound messaging
Recommendation:
- Partner with an onshore SDR agency that can give you a US-based caller + offshore support for list building and volume.
- Let them help you harden your ICP and sequences while you prove that outbound works.
- Revisit building internal SDRs once you have a repeatable playbook and more predictable revenue.
Scenario 2: Growth-Stage SaaS, ACV $40k–$80k, Mid-Market/Enterprise ICP
You’ve got:
- 3-6 AEs
- Real product-market fit
- Defined ICPs and a marketing engine
Your challenge is:
- Feeding enough good meetings to your AEs.
Recommendation:
- Build or maintain a small internal SDR team (1-3 reps) to sit close to GTM leadership and own strategic accounts.
- Layer in an onshore or hybrid agency to add capacity, testing new verticals and geos.
- Use offshore resources primarily for list building, enrichment, and long-tail segments; keep first-touch calls for core ICP onshore.
Scenario 3: Established Services Firm, ACV $5k–$15k, High Volume Potential
You’ve got:
- Clear, repeatable services
- Large TAM of SMBs or regional mid-market
Complexity is low; volume is the name of the game.
Recommendation:
- Lean more heavily into offshore SDRs with strong scripts and clear qualification criteria.
- Keep a small internal or onshore pod for top-tier prospects and for QA and continuous improvement.
- Closely track cost/meeting and meeting quality; upgrade segments or territories to onshore if performance drops.
Conclusion + Next Steps
You’re not choosing between “good” internal SDRs and “bad” offshore SDRs. You’re choosing between different bundles of cost, control, quality, and speed.
- Internal teams give you maximum control and alignment, but at the highest TCO and with the longest ramp.
- Offshore teams give you massive labor-cost advantages, but require disciplined playbooks, QA, and governance to protect your brand.
- Onshore SDR agencies and hybrid models sit in the middle, trading some control for faster time-to-pipeline and lower operational overhead.
If you want a practical next step:
- Build your 12‑month cost and pipeline scenarios for internal, onshore agency, and offshore/hybrid.
- Pick one or two models to test for 90 days with clear success metrics.
- Use that data-not opinions-to decide where to double down.
And if you’d rather not spend the next year reinventing SDR playbooks, tech stacks, and QA processes, partner with someone who already lives and breathes this. SalesHive has been running B2B cold calling programs since 2016, booking over a hundred thousand meetings for hundreds of clients using a mix of US-based SDRs, Philippines-based callers, and AI-powered personalization.
You don’t need to solve “internal vs. offshore” in a vacuum. You just need a cold calling engine that reliably turns prospects into pipeline-and a partner that can help you choose the right mix of talent to get there.
📊 Key Statistics
Expert Insights
Compare Models on Cost per Qualified Meeting, Not Hourly Rate
An offshore SDR at half the hourly cost is expensive if they book a third as many qualified meetings. Build a simple model that tracks fully loaded spend (salary, tools, management, vendor fees) against qualified meetings and pipeline dollars created. Whichever model gives you the lowest cost per opportunity-without hurting close rates-is your winner.
Match Team Type to Deal Complexity and Brand Risk
The more complex and strategic your sale, the more you should lean toward internal or US-based callers who deeply understand the market, slang, and objections. For simpler, highly scripted offers and smaller ACVs, offshore teams can perform extremely well with the right coaching and QA. Don't send $200k+ deals into the wild with the cheapest option you can find.
Use Offshore for Research, List Building, and Volume First
If you're nervous about putting your brand in offshore hands, start by offshoring data-heavy work: list building, enrichment, basic qualification, and follow-ups on low-intent leads. Keep first-touch strategic conversations with internal or onshore SDRs. This hybrid model often gives you 80% of the cost savings with far less risk.
Invest in Coaching and Call Reviews No Matter Where Reps Sit
The biggest quality gap between internal and offshore teams isn't geography-it's coaching. Put weekly call reviews, recorded calls, and clear scoring rubrics in place for every SDR. Ten high-quality, coached reps (onshore or offshore) will routinely outperform 20 unmanaged dial machines burning through your market.
Leverage AI and Playbooks to Level the Playing Field
AI-assisted scripting, personalization, and intent data can help offshore teams sound much closer to seasoned in-house reps. Lock down a strong outbound playbook-ICP definitions, objection handling, call frameworks-and then use AI-powered tools to adapt messaging to each prospect. That combination minimizes the gap between internal and offshore performance.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Choosing offshore vendors purely on hourly rate
Rock-bottom pricing usually means high rep churn, weak training, and low accountability-exactly the recipe for burned territories and weak pipeline.
Instead: Evaluate vendors on cost per qualified meeting, call quality (via recordings), management structure, and alignment with your ICP and messaging-not just the quote on the proposal.
Underestimating the true cost of an in-house SDR team
Leaders often budget only for base + commission and forget about benefits, tools, enablement, management time, and ramp, making in-house look cheaper than it really is.
Instead: Model fully loaded TCO per productive SDR seat, including tech stack, management allocation, and 3-4 months of ramp, before comparing against offshore or outsourced options.
Throwing complex enterprise calls at junior offshore reps with no playbook
Without strong messaging and context, reps default to generic scripts that feel irrelevant-exactly what 73% of buyers say makes them avoid vendors.
Instead: Reserve your most complex, high-stakes conversations for experienced internal or onshore SDRs, and only move pieces of that motion offshore once you've proven scripts and frameworks.
Measuring dials instead of outcomes
Focusing on activity volume encourages spammy behavior and masks problems with list quality, targeting, and talk tracks, especially in low-cost offshore setups.
Instead: Align all teams on outcome metrics: connect rate, meetings booked per 100 conversations, show rate, SQL rate, and ultimately pipeline and revenue influenced.
Ignoring data security and compliance in offshore arrangements
Sharing large prospect lists and CRM access with loosely governed offshore operations can create serious privacy, regulatory, and brand risks.
Instead: Work only with vendors that have clear data-handling policies, role-based access controls, and compliance experience in your region (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.), and keep high-risk segments tightly controlled.
Action Items
Build a fully loaded cost model for internal SDRs
Include salary, commissions, benefits, tech stack, management time, enablement, and expected ramp to calculate a realistic monthly TCO per productive SDR, then compare this against offshore or outsourced quotes.
Define a clear outbound charter before hiring anyone
Document your ICP, messaging pillars, qualification criteria, and handoff rules to AEs so both internal and offshore callers are playing the same game with the same playbook.
Run a 90-day A/B pilot across models
If budget allows, test an internal SDR seat against an offshore or outsourced pod for 90 days, tracking cost per meeting, meeting-to-opportunity rate, and pipeline created to make a data-backed decision.
Implement a shared QA framework for all callers
Create a call-scoring rubric (opener, discovery, value articulation, next steps) and review a sample of calls from each rep-internal and offshore-weekly to keep quality and messaging consistent.
Adopt a hybrid structure for risk management
Assign internal or onshore SDRs to your highest-value accounts and segments, and use offshore resources for list building, reactivation campaigns, and lower-ACV or international segments.
Partner with a specialist agency instead of building everything from scratch
Work with a B2B-focused SDR agency like SalesHive that already has trained US-based and Philippines-based reps, proven playbooks, AI tooling, and reporting so you can get to pipeline faster with less operational debt.
Partner with SalesHive
Our cold calling services give you access to professionally trained US-based SDRs, plus budget-flexible options that include dedicated Philippines-based callers for more transactional or high-volume motions. Each program comes with custom playbooks, list building, and our eMod AI personalization engine for email, so your phone outreach is always supported by intelligent, multi-channel touch patterns. We handle hiring, training, dialing, reporting, and continuous optimization; you just see more qualified meetings on your AEs’ calendars.
With month-to-month contracts, risk-free onboarding, and flat-rate pricing, SalesHive lets you test a best-in-class outbound program without the long-term headcount risk. Whether you want a pure US team, a blended US + offshore pod, or support across cold calling, email outreach, and SDR outsourcing, we’ve already built the machine-you just plug it into your funnel.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is offshore cold calling actually effective for B2B sales, or is it just a cost play?
Offshore cold calling can be very effective when the motion is relatively simple, highly scripted, and aimed at mid- to low-complexity deals. The structural labor-cost advantage in markets like the Philippines can lower your cost per dial and, if managed well, cost per qualified meeting. But offshore is not a magic bullet-quality of management, training, data, and scripts matter more than geography. For complex enterprise deals or high brand risk, you'll almost always want strong internal or US-based SDRs in the mix.
When does it make more sense to build an internal cold calling team instead of offshoring?
Build internal when your ACV is high, the buying committee is complex, and your sales narrative changes quickly. In those cases, tight alignment with product, marketing, and leadership is critical, and reps need deep market context and cultural fluency. Internal also wins when you have experienced frontline managers who can coach SDRs and when brand control is non-negotiable-for example, if you're selling into regulated industries or Fortune 100 accounts.
How big is the cost difference between in-house and outsourced/offshore SDRs?
A fully ramped in-house SDR in North America typically costs $9,750–$14,425 per month when you include compensation, tools, management, and ops support. By contrast, many specialized providers charge $6,000–$15,000 per month for a full outbound program and report clients seeing 40-60% cost savings vs. standing up comparable in-house pods. Offshore models can push labor costs even lower thanks to wage differences, but you have to layer in ramp, QA, and vendor management time to see the true gap.
What about language and accent concerns with offshore teams?
Countries like the Philippines rank among the highest in Asia for English proficiency and have long experience supporting US and European markets. That said, subtle cultural and idiomatic differences still matter in high-stakes B2B conversations. For scripted, qualification-heavy calls, a well-trained offshore team can sound excellent. For nuanced value-selling to senior executives, many companies still prefer US or local accents, especially in the early stages of the relationship.
How should I measure success for internal vs offshore cold calling teams?
Track the same outcome metrics across both models: connect rate, meetings booked per 100 conversations, show rate, opportunity (SQL) rate, pipeline created, and ultimately revenue influenced. Then overlay cost data-fully loaded in-house TCO vs. vendor fees-to get to cost per meeting and cost per dollar of pipeline. If offshore is cheaper per hour but more expensive per SQL, it's not actually cheaper.
Can I mix internal and offshore SDRs on the same outbound program?
Yes, and in practice, hybrid structures are usually the strongest option. Many teams keep strategic account outreach, event follow-up, and expansion plays with internal or US-based SDRs, while offshoring list building, enrichment, reactivation campaigns, and lower-ACV segments. The key is giving both groups a shared playbook, unified reporting, and clear ownership so prospects don't feel like they're talking to two different companies.
How quickly can an offshore or outsourced cold calling team ramp compared to internal hires?
Internal hiring usually takes 1-2 months of recruiting plus 2-3 months of onboarding and ramp before SDRs hit full productivity. Specialist outsourced or offshore providers often launch in 2-4 weeks because they already have trained callers, infrastructure, and playbooks. You still need time to tune messaging and targeting, but your time-to-first-meeting is typically much shorter with a mature partner.
What should I look for when evaluating an offshore cold calling vendor?
Ask for real call recordings, transparent reporting, details on their training and QA process, and references from companies with a similar ICP and ACV. Confirm how they handle data security, CRM access, and compliance, and make sure they're comfortable being measured on meetings booked, meeting quality, and pipeline-not just dials. Finally, understand whether managers are hands-on operators or just traffic cops; strong front-line leadership is non-negotiable in offshore environments.