Research / B2B lead generation services
B2B lead generation services for a small B2B company: what they do, cost and how to pick
Updated November 6, 2026. Every outside page cited here was read that day.
A B2B lead generation service finds your buyers, contacts them for you and hands over replies or booked meetings. Belkins puts retainers at $2,000 to $25,000 a month and appointments at $200 to $600 each. In Sales.co data, based on 336,257 contacts, 10,000 emails a month book about 3 meetings at the median campaign.
This guide is for a small B2B company deciding whether to pay someone to generate leads. The outcome numbers come from our own sending; the market prices come from an agency's published guide, dated.
Quick picks: what are you doing?
| Your situation | Best route | Starting cost |
|---|---|---|
| No outbound yet, under $5,000 a month | A flat-fee email service such as Sales.co | $2,000 a month |
| You want a stated meeting count | A retainer sold by appointments, such as Belkins | From $5,000 to $7,995 a month, its published figures |
| You want to test with a few meetings | Pay per appointment | $200 to $600 a meeting |
| You have a person who can run campaigns | A contact database such as Apollo or an alternative | $49 a seat a month billed yearly |
| You sell to one trade and send your own email | A one-time list | $295 one time |
| You want someone in-house | Compare an agency with an SDR | Salary, tools and data |
What a B2B lead generation service does
A service takes over the top of your sales funnel. It defines the buyer, builds the contact list, writes the outreach, runs the sending and handles the replies. You get either interested replies or meetings on your calendar, and your team runs the sales call from there.
- Targeting. Which companies and which job titles.
- List building. Finding and validating the contacts.
- Outreach. Email first at most services, with calls, LinkedIn or ads added.
- Reply handling. Answering replies and booking the interested ones.
- Reporting. What was sent, who replied and what was booked.
How services are priced
These are the ranges in Belkins' pricing guide, read November 6, 2026. Belkins sells retainers, so read them as one agency's view of the market.
| Model | Typical price | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | $2,000 to $25,000 a month | Steady pipeline work | Contract length |
| Retainer plus setup fee | Retainer plus $5,000 to $15,000 | Big upfront strategy work | Total cost across the term |
| Retainer plus commission | Retainer plus 5% to 15% | Teams that want a shared incentive | Whether the base covers the work |
| Pay per appointment | $200 to $600 a meeting | Testing with few meetings | Meeting quality |
| Commission only | 10% to 25% of deal value | Belkins does not recommend it | Whether the seller can sustain the work |
| Flat fee by email volume (Sales.co) | $2,000 to $3,000 a month | Teams that want one known bill | No meeting guarantee |
What to expect from 10,000 emails a month
This is the number most buyers cannot get from a sales page. Across 20 Sales.co campaigns, 627,085 emails went to 336,257 contacts between March 6 and August 31, 2026.
| Measure, per 10,000 emails a month | Median campaign |
|---|---|
| Contacts reached | About 5,360 |
| Positive replies | About 6 |
| Booked meetings | About 3 |
| Cost per booked meeting at $2,000 | $702 |
| Cost per booked meeting, all 20 campaigns pooled | $267 |
A single campaign can land well above or below these. The bottom quarter of campaigns pays about $622 a positive reply, against $339 at the median. Put your own volume and deal size into the lead generation calculator, which starts from these rates.
In one Sales.co campaign, 143 booked calls came from 235,941 emails, one per 1,650, and 7 of those calls had paid by October 6, 2026. Multiply your deal value by a close rate like that one and compare it with the cost per meeting; if the first number is larger, the service pays for itself.
How to pick a service
- Find the price before the call. If a service will not give a range, ask for one in the first email.
- Ask what counts as a lead. A reply, an interested reply and a booked meeting are three different things.
- Check the contract. Ask for the minimum term and the exit in writing.
- Ask who owns the sending. Know whose domains and mailboxes are used, and what you keep if you leave.
- Ask for numbers from your market. We list which agencies publish theirs in our reply-rate check.
For named agencies, see our best B2B lead generation agencies list and how to choose a cold email agency. For a budget, see what a cold email agency costs.
Where Sales.co fits
Sales.co is $2,000 a month for up to 10,000 emails, $2,500 for 15,000 and $3,000 for 20,000. Plans are month to month, have no setup fee and go live in 7 days, and you never log in to anything. Cold calls add $1,500 a month, and ads or LinkedIn add $1,000 each. If you want a guaranteed meeting count, or live events and webinars in the plan, a retainer agency is the better fit.
Sources
- Belkins: B2B lead generation pricing guide and outsourced SDR page, read November 6, 2026.
- Sales.co outcome numbers: lead generation calculator and conversion rate benchmarks: 20 campaigns, first emails March 6 to August 31, 2026.
- Sales.co prices: pricing page, read November 6, 2026. Apollo: pricing page, read November 6, 2026.
FAQ
What is a B2B lead generation service?
A company that finds your buyers, contacts them by email, phone, LinkedIn or ads, and hands you interested replies or booked meetings. You run the sales call.
How much do B2B lead generation services cost?
Belkins' guide puts retainers at $2,000 to $25,000 a month and pay-per-appointment at $200 to $600 (read November 6, 2026). Sales.co is $2,000 to $3,000 a month by email volume.
How many leads should I expect?
At the median Sales.co campaign, 10,000 emails a month reach about 5,360 contacts and bring about 6 positive replies and 3 booked meetings. Campaigns vary widely by market and offer.
Is pay per appointment better than a retainer?
It suits a small test, and Belkins' guide says it fits small businesses testing lead generation for the first time. Its warning is that agencies paid by the meeting may favor count over quality, so define a qualified meeting first.
Should I hire an SDR instead?
Compare both on total cost and time to start. Our agency vs SDR comparison puts published prices and launch times in one table.