If you’re trying to grow your B2B business, you’ve probably asked yourself this question:

Should we build an SDR team or just work with a Clay Agency to handle outbound for us?

Both options can help you get more meetings and leads, but they come with very different costs, time commitments, and results. Let’s compare them side by side so you can make the right call for your team.

Option 1: Hiring 5 SDRs

What it costs:

• Around $4,000 per month for each SDR

• Add tools like email platforms and CRMs at $300 to $500 per rep

• Plus an SDR manager to manage the team (around $6,000 per month)
  

That’s easily over $25,000 a month, or $300,000 a year.

What you get:

• Human reps sending emails, booking meetings, and doing follow-ups

• Some personalization, depending on how good your reps are

• A lot of time spent hiring, training, and managing
  

The downsides:

• Reps take time to ramp up

• Burnout and turnover are common

• Performance varies from rep to rep

• You need to build and manage everything yourself
  

Option 2: Hiring a Clay Agency (like Lead Assassin)

What it costs:

• Most Clay Agencies charge around $2,000 to $6,000 a month

• No need to buy extra tools. It’s all included in the service
  

What you get:

• A fully automated outbound system

• Cold emails and LinkedIn messages that are personalized at scale using AI

• Expert-built workflows that run on autopilot

• Campaigns that get tested, optimized, and improved each week
  

The benefits:

• No hiring or training needed

• Launch in a week or two

• More consistency, less burnout

• Booked meetings without managing a team

Real Results

Lead Assassin helped one client get 240% more meetings in just one month using a LinkedIn automation system. That’s the kind of result that’s hard to get with a new SDR team.

So What’s the Better Investment?

Final Thoughts

If you’ve got the time, budget, and resources to build a full SDR team, go for it. But if you want faster results, less overhead, and a simpler path to growth, working with a Clay Agency is the smarter play.

You get the output of 5 reps without all the hassle.

Want to see how it works?
Check out Lead Assassin and see how they’re helping B2B teams scale smarter.