I spent most of last year trying to figure out how to get more qualified conversations on the calendar without burning out my internal team. Hiring more SDRs wasn’t an option at the time. The budget was there, but the time to recruit, train, and get them productive was at least three months.
So I did what a lot of B2B founders do. I looked outside. Two options kept coming up. One was working with an outbound lead generation agency that handles email and LinkedIn outreach (similar to the Belkins lead generation model). The other was partnering with premium B2B telemarketing companies to run cold calling campaigns. I decided to test both at the same time, using the same ICP and the same offer.
After three months, I had a clearer picture. Not because one method was perfect, but because each had trade-offs that showed up fast once you put money behind them.
What It’s Actually Like Working with an Outbound Agency
The agency I worked with didn’t sell themselves as a call center. Their focus was multichannel outreach. Most of the work happened in email and LinkedIn, with some light calling mixed in when a prospect asked for it. The first month was slower than I expected. We spent the first two weeks reviewing target accounts, cleaning up messaging, and setting up sending infrastructure to avoid spam filters.
Once things got going, the rhythm was different from cold calling. Prospects weren’t interrupted mid-task. They saw a message, replied when they had time, and if they were interested, we scheduled a call. The team handled all the replies. My job was just to show up to the meetings that were booked. Pricing was a flat monthly retainer coming out to about $4k per month.
What Changed When We Tried Telemarketing Instead
The telemarketing firm worked differently from day one. We had a kickoff call, went over the script, and they started calling the next day. The process was straightforward. Agents worked through a list, dealt with gatekeepers, left voicemails, and tried to get to the decision maker.
They gave me call recordings and daily logs, so I could hear exactly how prospects were responding. Pricing was hourly. We ran two agents for 20 hours a week each, which put us at around $5.6k per month. The upside was speed. We had conversations happening in week one. The downside was management and when we paused the campaign, the pipeline dried up immediately.
Where the Numbers Landed After 90 Days
I kept this simple. I tracked three things: meetings booked, show rate, and cost per meeting over a 90-day period:
| Outbound Strategy | Meetings Booked | Average Show Rate | Cost Per Meeting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outbound Agency (Belkins Style) | 28 | 32% | $430 |
| B2B Telemarketing Companies | 34 | 24% | $495 |
The real difference showed up later. The deals that came from agency-sourced meetings closed at a higher rate. My guess is that people who reply to an email and agree to a call are already a step warmer than someone who says yes on a cold call.
Scaling Each Model When You Add Budget
Scaling telemarketing is pretty linear. Add another agent, and you get more calls. But you also add more management work. Someone has to listen to calls, coach the agents, and make sure the quality doesn’t slip. Once you get past six or seven agents, it starts to feel like you’re running a small call center inside your company.
Scaling the agency model is less hands-on. You increase the retainer, they add more sending domains and more sequences. You don’t hire more people internally. That’s why I noticed a lot of companies make the switch around $2M to $5M ARR. They start with calling to get fast traction, then move to multichannel outbound when they want something that runs with less daily oversight.
The Brand Risk and Data Ownership
One thing that surprised me was how much brand risk lives in the phone channel. When an agent is on the phone, they’re speaking for your company in real time. If they sound pushy, bored, or confused, that’s what the prospect remembers. With email and LinkedIn outreach, you approve every message before it goes out. You control the tone, the length, and the follow-up cadence.
Another thing to think about is data ownership. The telemarketing firm kept the call recordings and their internal notes. With the agency, everything ran through domains and inboxes we controlled. The contact list, the reply history, the messaging that worked, all of it was ours. If we decided to bring this in-house six months later, we wouldn’t be starting from zero.
When Calling Still Makes Sense vs Multichannel Outbound
I don’t think telemarketing is dead. It still works really well in a few situations:
- If your average deal size is high and you only need a handful of meetings per month.
- If you’re promoting a time-sensitive event or following up on an inbound lead within minutes.
- In industries where people just don’t live in their inbox (logistics, manufacturing, and construction).
Conversely, the agency model makes more sense when you have some runway (60 to 90 days) and your ICP is active on LinkedIn and email (Tech, SaaS, marketing, finance).
How to Make the Call for Your Own Company
If you’re trying to decide right now, ask yourself three things:
- How fast do you need meetings? If it’s under 30 days, telemarketing wins. If you have 60 days or more, multichannel outbound starts to make more sense.
- What’s your average deal size? Low-ticket deals make telemarketing hard to justify because the cost per call adds up fast.
- Do you want to build this internally later? If yes, prioritize vendors that let you own the data and show you how the process works.
Bottom Line
Neither model is magic. Telemarketing gives you speed and direct feedback. Agency-led outbound gives you a system that’s easier to scale without adding a management layer inside your company. Start with calling if you need pipeline now. Shift to multichannel outbound when you want something more predictable.
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Question for you: Have you ever hired external B2B telemarketing companies, and what was your average show rate? Let me know your experience in the comments below!
