Everyone asks the question. Few people have real data to answer it. We've booked over 10,000 qualified B2B meetings across dozens of industries, channels, and buyer personas. Here are the real benchmarks - not guesswork, not theoretical models, but actual numbers from actual campaigns.
These ranges are based on our data from 10,000+ meetings. Your actual cost depends on ICP complexity, deal size, geography, and seniority of the buyer. But these are the ballpark figures you should be working with.
| Channel | Cost Range | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Email | £150 - £400 | High volume, broad ICP, initial market testing |
| LinkedIn Outreach | £200 - £500 | Professional services, SaaS, C-suite targeting |
| Cold Calling | £300 - £800 | High-value enterprise deals, urgent pipeline needs |
| Multi-Channel | £250 - £600 | Best overall results - email + phone + LinkedIn combined |
Multi-channel consistently delivers the best balance of cost and quality. That's why it's our default approach for most lead generation programmes.
Some industries are easier to book meetings in than others. Here's what you should expect based on our data.
| Industry | Typical Cost Per Meeting | Why |
|---|---|---|
| SaaS | £200 - £450 | Tech-savvy buyers, large addressable market, digital-first |
| FinTech | £300 - £600 | Compliance barriers, longer buying cycles, regulated buyers |
| Cybersecurity | £350 - £700 | Sceptical buyers, crowded market, high inbox noise |
| Professional Services | £250 - £500 | Relationship-driven, trust-dependent, smaller target market |
| Manufacturing | £200 - £400 | Less inbox competition, clear pain points, phone-responsive |
This is the variable most people forget. A meeting with a VP of Engineering costs significantly more than a meeting with a mid-level manager. Here's the reality.
Heads of department, team leads, senior managers. Easier to reach, more responsive to email, but may not have budget authority for large deals.
VPs, Directors, Senior Directors. The sweet spot for most B2B sales. They have influence and often budget authority, but their inboxes are busier and they need stronger value propositions.
CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, CISOs. The hardest meetings to book. Gatekeepers, executive assistants, and extremely limited time. But when you land them, the deal size justifies the cost many times over.
Targeting "marketing managers at companies with 50-500 employees" is straightforward. Targeting "VP of Risk at UK-regulated asset managers with £1B+ AUM" is a different game entirely. The narrower and more senior your ICP, the higher the cost per meeting.
Targeting UK buyers is typically cheaper than targeting US buyers due to data availability and email deliverability differences. European markets sit somewhere in between. Multi-geography campaigns average out across regions.
If prospects have never heard of you, expect higher costs. Companies that pair outbound with demand generation see 30-40% lower cost per meeting because their market is warmer before the first outbound touch.
The higher your average deal value, the more you can afford to pay per meeting and still maintain strong ROI. A £500 meeting that leads to a £100K deal is outstanding economics. A £500 meeting for a £5K deal doesn't work.
The right cost per meeting isn't a fixed number. It depends on your deal economics. Here's the simple formula.
Average Deal Size x Close Rate = Value Per Meeting
If each meeting is worth more than what you pay for it, your lead generation is profitable. It's that simple.
| Average Deal | Close Rate | Value Per Meeting | Max You Should Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | 20% | £5,000 | £500 - £1,000 |
| £50,000 | 20% | £10,000 | £400 - £800 |
| £100,000 | 15% | £15,000 | £500 - £1,500 |
| £250,000 | 10% | £25,000 | £1,000 - £2,500 |
A good rule of thumb: if your cost per meeting is less than 10% of the expected value per meeting, your lead generation is delivering excellent ROI. Use our pipeline calculator to model your exact numbers.
Prospects who've heard of you are 3x more likely to accept a meeting. Investing in brand and demand gen alongside outbound isn't a luxury - it directly reduces your cost per meeting over time.
The tighter your ideal customer profile, the higher your conversion rate from contact to meeting. We spend the first few weeks of every campaign testing and refining the ICP until we find the sweet spot where volume meets quality.
The biggest factor we see is time. Month one is always the most expensive. By month three, messaging is refined, data is cleaner, and your brand has more market presence. Clients who stick with it for 6+ months consistently see their lowest cost per meeting.
If someone's promising meetings at £50 each, they're not qualified meetings. They're either counting anyone who picks up the phone, booking meetings with people who have no authority, or defining "meeting" very loosely. A real, qualified B2B meeting with a decision maker should cost £200+ minimum.
Always ask what counts as a meeting. At ORRJO, a meeting only counts when it's with a person who matches your ICP, has the authority to buy, and actually shows up for the call. No-shows, wrong persona, and tyre-kickers don't count.
Agencies that only charge per meeting are incentivised to book low-quality conversations just to hit their number. The best model is a retainer that aligns the agency with your long-term pipeline goals, not a bounty system that rewards quantity over quality. Read more about how lead generation pricing works.
We'll model it for you based on your deal size, ICP, and target market. No obligation, no pitch deck - just real numbers from real campaigns so you can make an informed decision.