Outsourced SDR ROI: How to Calculate It (2026 Framework)

Outsourced SDR ROI: How to Calculate It (2026 Framework)

Last updated: July 2026

Outsourced SDR ROI is positive when your ACV is above 30,000 AUD, your AE converts more than 30% of meetings into opportunities, and you have real product-market fit in the ICP being prospected. It breaks even when one of those three is soft. It goes negative when two of them are.

That is the entire answer. Everything below is the maths, the worked examples, and the reasons the maths goes wrong in practice.

I run UpliftSales, an outsourced SDR agency for B2B tech in Australia. This piece is the framework I use with every prospect on the first strategy call — before we quote, before we scope, before either of us commits to anything. If you are new to the category, start with our full Australian hub which covers what the model is and how it works. This article assumes you already know that and you want to know whether the numbers add up for your specific situation.

We are going to move fast. Formula, worked example, three ICP scenarios, comparison table, payback benchmarks, failure modes, and how to protect the return. Grab a calculator or open our free tool in a second tab and run your own numbers as you read.

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How Do You Calculate Outsourced SDR ROI?

Outsourced SDR ROI is calculated as pipeline generated minus fully-loaded cost, divided by fully-loaded cost, over a defined period. The output is expressed as a multiple. Everything else is a variation on how you define the inputs.

The formula:

ROI = (Pipeline Generated in AUD - Fully-Loaded Cost in AUD) / Fully-Loaded Cost in AUD

Where:
Pipeline Generated = SAOs × Close Rate × ACV × Gross Margin % × LTV Multiplier
Fully-Loaded Cost = Retainer + AE Demo Time + Tooling + Management Overhead

Two things to notice.

First, we are measuring against gross margin dollars, not top-line revenue. If your gross margin is 75% and your ACV is 100,000 AUD, one closed deal generates 75,000 AUD of gross margin — that is the number you can spend on sales and marketing to acquire the next one. Measuring against top-line revenue systematically overstates ROI by 25 to 40%.

Second, we use an LTV multiplier, not just year-one ACV. B2B SaaS in Australia averages 3 to 5 year customer lifetime. If your average customer stays 3.5 years and expands 15% per year, an LTV multiplier of 4x on year-one ACV is honest. Salesforce's State of Sales research shows that reps who consistently exceed quota focus disproportionately on expansion revenue for exactly this reason.

If you want the short version to give your CFO: use gross margin, use full customer lifetime, count all costs.

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A Full Worked Example (Series A SaaS, 100k AUD ACV)

Let me walk through a full scenario end to end. This is a composite based on a dozen Series A engagements we have run.

The company

• Series A B2B SaaS, 30 million AUD ARR
• Sydney-based, selling into mid-market ANZ
• ACV: 100,000 AUD
• Gross margin: 78%
• Sales cycle: 90 days
• LTV multiplier: 4x (average customer retains 3.5 years, expansion offsets churn)
• Outsourced SDR retainer: 12,000 AUD per month, so 144,000 AUD per year
• Engagement length: 12 months

Month-by-month output — what the SDR delivers

Assume a fully ramped SDR books 12 to 15 qualified meetings per month. Bridge Group's SDR benchmark research puts the median at 12 meetings per SDR per month across B2B, and we consistently deliver at or above that in Australia because our tool stack and ICP research absorb the friction that in-house teams have to build from scratch.

• Ramp (months 1-2): 8 meetings/month × 2 = 16 meetings
• Steady state (months 3-12): 13 meetings/month × 10 = 130 meetings
• Year-one total: 146 qualified meetings

The funnel

Stage	Conversion	Volume
Qualified meetings booked	—	146
Meetings held (75% hold rate)	75%	110
Sales-accepted opportunities (SAOs, 45% of held meetings)	45%	49
Closed-won deals (25% SAO close rate)	25%	12

Twelve closed-won deals in year one from an outsourced SDR programme. HubSpot's sales benchmark data confirms mid-market SaaS SAO close rates land in the 20-30% band, so 25% is neither optimistic nor conservative — it is what a competent AE team delivers.

The pipeline generated

• 12 closed-won × 100,000 AUD ACV = 1,200,000 AUD year-one revenue
• Gross margin at 78% = 936,000 AUD in year-one gross margin dollars
• With 4x LTV multiplier = 3,744,000 AUD in lifetime gross margin

The fully-loaded cost

• Retainer: 144,000 AUD
• AE demo time: 110 meetings held × 1.5 hours per demo × 150 AUD blended AE cost = 24,750 AUD
• CRM and sales engagement tooling (client side, incremental): 6,000 AUD
• Internal management overhead (VP Sales oversight, 2 hours per week × 52 × 200 AUD): 20,800 AUD
• Total fully-loaded cost: 195,550 AUD

The ROI calculation

• Year-one ROI: (936,000 - 195,550) / 195,550 = 3.79x
• LTV ROI: (3,744,000 - 195,550) / 195,550 = 18.1x

Year-one payback lands in month 5. The programme covers its own cost roughly one quarter into engagement and prints gross margin for the remaining nine months.

3.79x year-one ROI, 18.1x LTV ROI, payback in month 5 — the honest maths from a Series A B2B SaaS engagement at 100,000 AUD ACV. This is a spreadsheet conversation, not a feelings conversation.

Every prospect I speak to should be able to run this exact table for their business before signing. If you cannot, that is a signal to talk to us about scoping — start with the SDR ROI calculator or book a call.

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What Goes Into Fully-Loaded Outsourced SDR Cost?

Fully-loaded outsourced SDR cost is the retainer plus every other cost your business absorbs to make the engagement work. Most buyers count the retainer only. That understates true cost by 25 to 40% and produces ROI numbers that look better than they are.

The four categories that matter:

1. Provider retainer

The invoice line. In Australia in 2026, professional outsourced SDR retainers for B2B tech run 8,000 to 20,000 AUD per month depending on ICP complexity and seniority of target buyer. Our full pricing breakdown goes deep on all four models — retainer, hybrid, per-meeting, and performance-only.

2. AE demo time

Every booked meeting requires 45 to 90 minutes of AE time — pre-call research, the call itself, and follow-up. At 150 to 250 AUD per blended AE hour (fully-loaded), 12 to 15 meetings per month costs 3,000 to 5,000 AUD per month in AE opportunity cost. Over a year that is 36,000 to 60,000 AUD.

This is a real cost even though it is not an incremental cash outlay. Every hour your AE spends on a bad meeting is an hour they are not closing a live opportunity. Model it. Our AE time-cost tool surfaces exactly what your team meetings and demos are costing you in loaded time.

3. CRM and sales engagement tooling

Most outsourced providers use their own tool stack — you inherit their Cognism seats, their Outreach instance, their dialler. But you still need CRM seats on your side (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive) to receive the leads and manage the funnel. Incremental cost per seat is 100 to 400 AUD per month, so 1,200 to 5,000 AUD per year.

4. Internal management overhead

Someone on your side owns the relationship. Typically this is the VP Sales, Head of Growth, or founder. Realistic time commitment: 2 to 5 hours per week for the first three months, then 1 to 2 hours per week ongoing. At 150 to 300 AUD per fully-loaded hour, this is 10,000 to 30,000 AUD per year.

Fully-loaded total

For a 144,000 AUD annual retainer, the true fully-loaded cost typically lands between 190,000 and 240,000 AUD. That is the number your ROI denominator uses. Not 144,000.

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What Counts as Pipeline Generated?

Pipeline generated is sales-accepted opportunities multiplied by close rate, multiplied by ACV, multiplied by gross margin, multiplied by LTV factor. Anything short of that formula overstates return.

Three definitions matter here.

Sales-Accepted Opportunity (SAO), not Meeting

A booked meeting is not pipeline. A held meeting is not pipeline. A Sales-Accepted Opportunity is pipeline — the AE has met with the prospect, confirmed BANT (or MEDDIC, or your framework), and formally accepted it into stage two of the CRM. Our full funnel reference breaks down every stage definition.

Meeting-to-SAO conversion typically runs 30 to 50% for competent providers targeting a well-defined ICP. Below 30% you have a qualification problem — either the provider is booking too loose or the AE is disqualifying too aggressively.

Close Rate

The percentage of SAOs that become closed-won revenue. B2B SaaS mid-market close rates in Australia sit at 20 to 30%. Enterprise runs 15 to 25% because deal cycles are longer and the buying committee is larger. Salesforce's State of Sales report tracks this across markets and confirms the 20-30% band as median for professional sales orgs.

LTV Multiplier

Year-one ACV is the wrong number to use if your customers stay for years. B2B SaaS customer lifetime in Australia averages 3 to 5 years, with expansion revenue typically offsetting churn to produce a net multiplier of 3x to 5x. Enterprise customers can run higher — 5x to 8x — because of multi-year contracts and account expansion.

Forrester's Total Economic Impact (TEI methodology) is the industry standard for modelling long-term returns from sales and marketing investment. Their framework backs the use of full-lifetime gross margin rather than year-one revenue.

Measure against gross margin, not top-line revenue. The single most common ROI mistake I see is founders using year-one top-line ACV instead of lifetime gross margin. It flatters the number by 3x to 5x, then blows up on the P&L.

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Time-to-ROI Benchmarks — When Should You Expect Payback?

Payback timing for outsourced SDR in Australian B2B tech is predictable if you know your ACV and sales cycle. Here are the benchmarks we track internally.

ACV Band (AUD)	Typical Payback Month	Year-One ROI Range
20,000 - 50,000	Month 7-10	1.5x - 3x
50,000 - 150,000	Month 4-7	3x - 5x
150,000 - 300,000	Month 3-5	4x - 7x
300,000+	Month 2-4	5x - 10x

These numbers assume a 90-day sales cycle. Add or subtract a month of payback for every 30 days of cycle length variance. Enterprise deals with 6-9 month cycles push payback into month 8-12 even at higher ACVs — the higher ROI is real, it just arrives later.

What drives faster payback

1. Higher ACV — every closed deal is worth more relative to fixed retainer cost
2. Shorter sales cycle — pipeline converts to cash faster
3. Higher AE conversion rate — more of the booked meetings become opportunities
4. Higher close rate — more opportunities become revenue
5. Faster SDR ramp — our 2026 performance data covers what good ramp looks like

What kills payback

1. Ambiguous ICP requiring provider to burn month 1-2 on discovery
2. AE team overloaded and dropping booked meetings
3. Weak handoff producing low SAO acceptance
4. Sales cycle longer than the engagement window (rare but happens with enterprise-only ICPs)

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Three Worked ROI Scenarios (Early-Stage, Mid-Market, Enterprise)

Different ACV bands require different ROI maths. Here are three worked scenarios covering the range of Australian B2B tech companies we serve.

Scenario A: Early-Stage SaaS (50,000 AUD ACV)

Inputs

• ACV: 50,000 AUD, gross margin 75%, LTV multiplier 3.5x
• Retainer: 9,000 AUD/month = 108,000 AUD/year
• SDR output: 12 meetings/month × 11 months (ramp) = 132 meetings
• 75% held × 40% SAO = 40 opportunities
• 22% close rate = 9 closed-won deals

Numbers

• Year-one revenue: 9 × 50,000 = 450,000 AUD
• Year-one gross margin: 337,500 AUD
• LTV gross margin: 1,181,250 AUD
• Fully-loaded cost: 108,000 + 20,000 (AE) + 15,000 (mgmt + tools) = 143,000 AUD
• Year-one ROI: (337,500 - 143,000) / 143,000 = 1.36x
• LTV ROI: (1,181,250 - 143,000) / 143,000 = 7.26x
• Payback: month 8-9

Verdict: worth doing, but tight in year one. The programme prints on LTV, not on year-one gross margin. Early-stage companies should be comfortable with this — the alternative is often paying an in-house SDR 148,000 to 226,000 AUD fully-loaded for the same output, which we cover in our full cost comparison.

Scenario B: Mid-Market SaaS (150,000 AUD ACV)

Inputs

• ACV: 150,000 AUD, gross margin 78%, LTV multiplier 4x
• Retainer: 14,000 AUD/month = 168,000 AUD/year
• SDR output: 13 meetings/month × 11 months = 143 meetings
• 75% held × 45% SAO = 48 opportunities
• 25% close rate = 12 closed-won deals

Numbers

• Year-one revenue: 12 × 150,000 = 1,800,000 AUD
• Year-one gross margin: 1,404,000 AUD
• LTV gross margin: 5,616,000 AUD
• Fully-loaded cost: 168,000 + 28,000 (AE) + 22,000 (mgmt + tools) = 218,000 AUD
• Year-one ROI: (1,404,000 - 218,000) / 218,000 = 5.44x
• LTV ROI: (5,616,000 - 218,000) / 218,000 = 24.76x
• Payback: month 4-5

Verdict: this is the ROI sweet spot for outsourced SDR in Australian B2B tech. Above 3x on year one, well above 10x on LTV, quick payback. If you are in this ACV band and not running outsourced SDR, you are almost certainly leaving pipeline on the table.

Scenario C: Enterprise (500,000 AUD ACV)

Inputs

• ACV: 500,000 AUD, gross margin 80%, LTV multiplier 5x
• Retainer: 18,000 AUD/month = 216,000 AUD/year
• SDR output: 10 meetings/month × 10 months (longer cycles, more research per meeting) = 100 meetings
• 80% held × 35% SAO = 28 opportunities
• 18% close rate = 5 closed-won deals

Numbers

• Year-one revenue: 5 × 500,000 = 2,500,000 AUD
• Year-one gross margin: 2,000,000 AUD
• LTV gross margin: 10,000,000 AUD
• Fully-loaded cost: 216,000 + 32,000 (AE) + 40,000 (mgmt + tools) = 288,000 AUD
• Year-one ROI: (2,000,000 - 288,000) / 288,000 = 5.94x
• LTV ROI: (10,000,000 - 288,000) / 288,000 = 33.72x
• Payback: month 3-4 (single deal)

Verdict: at enterprise ACV, one closed-won deal repays the entire year of investment. The risk profile is different — longer cycles, larger buying committees, fewer at-bats — but when it lands, it lands hard. LinkedIn Sales Solutions' enterprise sales research puts enterprise deal cycles at 6 to 9 months, so honest ROI measurement at this ACV requires an 18-24 month engagement window rather than a 12-month snapshot.

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Why Do Outsourced SDR ROI Numbers Miss?

Outsourced SDR ROI misses happen for four reasons, in roughly this order of frequency: bad ICP definition, wrong provider fit, weak AE conversion, and poor handoff. Provider quality is the one buyers default to blaming, but it is rarely the top cause.

1. Bad ICP definition (40% of misses)

The provider is booking meetings with people who look like your customers on paper but do not actually buy your product. The SDR hits activity metrics, the AE holds meetings, but nothing converts to pipeline because the meetings are not with real buyers.

Fix: rebuild ICP from closed-won data, not from aspirational personas. Look at the last 20 deals you closed, extract the pattern, and rebuild the target list around that pattern.

2. Wrong provider fit (25% of misses)

Generalist provider running a specialist ICP. Or a provider whose stack is optimised for volume plays running a complex enterprise sale. Or an offshore-only provider working an Australian buyer who requires local context on every call.

Fix: read our provider selection framework and rerun the process with the criteria that actually matter.

3. Weak AE conversion (20% of misses)

The SDR is booking qualified meetings and the AE is losing them at the demo stage. This is usually a demo quality problem or an AE overload problem — the AE has 40 opportunities in flight and cannot give any single meeting the attention it needs.

Fix: audit AE win rates by lead source. If SDR-sourced meetings convert at 20% while inbound meetings convert at 40%, the problem is at the AE, not the SDR.

4. Poor handoff (15% of misses)

Booked meetings get lost between calendars. Context does not flow from SDR to AE. Notes are sparse. The prospect shows up expecting a specific conversation and gets a different one.

Fix: enforce a written handoff protocol — SDR notes in the meeting invite, mandatory pre-call sync, structured discovery template used by both roles.

Gartner's research on B2B buyer journeys shows that buyers now spend only 17% of the total buying process meeting with vendors. Every meeting has to count. A weak handoff wastes the single most expensive touchpoint in the entire funnel.

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Outsourced SDR ROI vs In-House vs Paid Ads vs SEO

Every acquisition channel has different economics. Here is how outsourced SDR compares to the three most common alternatives in Australian B2B tech.

Channel	Typical CAC (AUD)	Payback Period	Time to First Pipeline	Ceiling
Outsourced SDR	3,000 - 8,000	4-7 months	4-6 weeks	Meeting velocity
In-house SDR	4,000 - 12,000	6-12 months	3-6 months (ramp)	Hiring speed
Paid ads (LinkedIn, Google)	5,000 - 15,000	6-12 months	2-4 weeks	Budget & CPC inflation
SEO / content	1,000 - 4,000	12-24 months	9-18 months	Search demand
Events & conferences	8,000 - 20,000	6-9 months	3-6 months	Event calendar

How to read this table

Outsourced SDR wins on speed to pipeline and predictability. You start booking meetings in weeks, not quarters. The trade-off is a lower absolute ceiling than SEO — you are constrained by SDR meeting velocity, not by market demand.

In-house SDR has the same performance ceiling as outsourced but with a 3-6 month ramp cost baked in. Our detailed cost model covers the maths on why outsourced usually wins on CAC and payback below 20 million AUD ARR.

Paid ads produces pipeline fast but CAC inflates aggressively as you scale. LinkedIn ads for B2B tech in Australia have seen CPMs rise 30-50% since 2023 as more spend chased the same inventory. HubSpot's paid acquisition benchmarks show the pattern across geographies.

SEO produces the lowest CAC once it works but takes the longest to work. Nine to eighteen months of investment before you see meaningful pipeline. Great for the long game, terrible for hitting a quarter.

Events produce excellent brand impact and enterprise-level meetings but at high CAC. Best used as a supplement, not a primary channel.

The honest answer: most B2B tech companies in Australia below 50 million AUD ARR should run outsourced SDR as the primary pipeline channel because it is the fastest path to predictable meetings, with SEO building in parallel for the long-term CAC advantage. Paid ads plays a supporting role targeting active buyers on high-intent keywords.

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How to Protect Outsourced SDR ROI: Five Things to Enforce

ROI does not happen by accident. Every high-ROI programme we run has these five things in place from month one. Every low-ROI programme is missing at least three of them.

1. Written ICP with kill criteria, not just target criteria

Most ICPs say who to target. The best ICPs also say who to disqualify. Add "kill criteria" — specific attributes that automatically disqualify a prospect regardless of fit on other dimensions. Company size below X, tech stack incompatible, regulated vertical without necessary compliance. Kill criteria stop the provider wasting cycles on prospects who will never buy.

2. Weekly funnel review with the provider — not just monthly

Monthly reviews are too slow to course-correct. Fortnightly at minimum, weekly ideally, especially in months 1-3. Review meetings booked, held, SAO-accepted, and opportunities created. Any drop in conversion rate at any stage needs a diagnosis inside seven days, not thirty.

3. Formal handoff protocol between SDR and AE

Written protocol covering: what goes in the meeting invite, what pre-call sync happens, what discovery template the AE uses on the first call, and what feedback loop closes back to the SDR on quality. If your AE ever says "this meeting was garbage" and the SDR never hears about it, your handoff is broken.

4. AE capacity audit

If your AEs are running 40+ opportunities each, they cannot properly handle new SDR-sourced meetings. Audit AE capacity before scaling SDR output. There is no point booking 20 meetings per month if your AEs can only run 12 properly.

5. Quarterly ROI review with the CFO

Every quarter, run the actual maths against actual pipeline. Not gut feel, not "the SDR is doing great" — the actual formula, actual close rates, actual gross margin, actual payback. If the number is above 3x, keep going. If it is below 2x by month 6, diagnose the four failure modes above.

Process discipline, not luck. Every high-ROI outsourced SDR programme I have seen has all five of these in place. Every low-ROI programme is missing at least three. That is the entire pattern.

If you want a partner who insists on all five as part of the standard engagement, talk to our team — or run your specific numbers first through our free ROI tool.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you calculate outsourced SDR ROI?

Use the formula (pipeline generated minus fully-loaded cost) divided by fully-loaded cost. Pipeline generated equals SAOs times close rate times ACV times gross margin percentage times LTV multiplier. Fully-loaded cost equals retainer plus AE demo time plus tooling plus management overhead. The answer is a multiple. Above 3x on year-one gross margin dollars is the point at which most CFOs green-light continued investment.

Is outsourced SDR worth it?

Outsourced SDR is worth it if your ACV is above 30,000 AUD, your AE meeting-to-opportunity conversion is above 30%, and you have product-market fit in the ICP you are prospecting. Below those thresholds, the maths does not work regardless of how good the provider is. Above them, outsourced SDR is one of the highest-ROI channels in B2B tech, typically delivering 3x to 8x on gross margin within 9-12 months.

What is a good ROI for outsourced SDR?

A good outsourced SDR ROI in year one is 3x to 5x on gross margin dollars. Elite programmes hit 6x to 10x by month 18 once ramp cost is amortised and repeat pipeline stacks up. Anything above 10x usually means you are underinvesting in SDR capacity because the constraint is not ROI, it is meeting velocity. Anything below 2x by month 9 signals a problem worth diagnosing before continuing.

How long does outsourced SDR take to pay back?

Payback timing depends on ACV. At 20,000 to 50,000 AUD ACV, payback typically lands in months 7-10. At 50,000 to 150,000 AUD ACV, payback lands in months 4-7. At 150,000 to 300,000 AUD ACV, months 3-5. At 300,000+ AUD ACV, a single closed deal in month 3 or 4 can repay the entire year. Longer sales cycles push these numbers out by 1-2 months per additional 30 days of cycle length.

What should be included in fully-loaded outsourced SDR cost?

Fully-loaded outsourced SDR cost includes four components: the retainer paid to the provider, the AE opportunity cost of running demos on booked meetings (roughly 3,000 to 5,000 AUD per month), incremental CRM and tooling on your side (100 to 400 AUD per seat per month), and internal management overhead (10,000 to 30,000 AUD per year). Total fully-loaded cost is typically 25-40% higher than the retainer alone.

Why do outsourced SDR programmes miss their ROI target?

Four failure modes account for over 80% of ROI misses: bad ICP definition (40% of misses), wrong provider fit for the market (25%), weak AE conversion at the demo stage (20%), and broken handoff between SDR and AE (15%). Notice that provider quality is only one of the four — the other three sit inside the buying company. This is why blaming the provider without auditing the other three is the most common ROI mistake we see.

How does outsourced SDR ROI compare to paid ads and SEO?

Outsourced SDR CAC in Australian B2B tech typically runs 3,000 to 8,000 AUD per closed deal with 4-7 month payback. Paid ads run 5,000 to 15,000 AUD CAC with 6-12 month payback and CAC inflation as you scale. SEO takes 12-24 months to produce meaningful pipeline but delivers the lowest CAC (1,000 to 4,000 AUD) once it works. Each channel occupies a different point on the speed-versus-cost curve, and most companies benefit from running SDR and SEO together.

How do I model outsourced SDR ROI at different ACVs?

Use the same formula for every ACV but adjust three inputs: retainer size (which scales modestly with ICP complexity), close rate (lower for enterprise, higher for SMB), and LTV multiplier (higher for enterprise multi-year contracts). At 50,000 AUD ACV you need 4-6 closed deals per year to hit 3x ROI. At 150,000 AUD ACV you need 2-3 deals. At 500,000 AUD ACV a single deal repays the year. Our free modelling tool covers each scenario.

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Summary and Takeaway

Outsourced SDR ROI comes down to five numbers you have to know: ACV, gross margin, close rate, LTV multiplier, and fully-loaded cost. Get those five right and the formula does the rest.

The maths says outsourced SDR is worth it for the majority of Australian B2B tech companies with ACV above 30,000 AUD and reasonable AE conversion. It is a bad fit below that ACV. It is a great fit above 100,000 AUD ACV. It is a spectacular fit above 250,000 AUD ACV where a single closed deal can repay a year of investment.

The three things to do this week:

1. Run the formula on your actual numbers. Open our free calculator — it takes 5 minutes.
2. Compare against your alternatives — in-house SDR, paid ads, SEO. Different channels, different economics, most companies benefit from a mix.
3. If the numbers work and you want a provider that operates the five-point ROI discipline covered above, book a call with UpliftSales — first strategy session is free and covers scoping, ICP audit, and honest go/no-go on whether we would take the engagement.

The framework in this article is the same one I use with every prospect on day one. If your numbers do not work under this framework, we will tell you before we quote. If they do, you will have the exact spreadsheet to take to your CFO.

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Related Reading

Our Australian outsourced SDR hub covers the full model end to end. The pricing breakdown covers every commercial model in detail. And the 2026 performance benchmarks show what good SDR output actually looks like — including ramp curves, meeting yield, and conversion rates by ICP.

If you want to talk numbers with our team, that is what our SDR service page is for.