B2B Lead Generation Companies: What Actually Works

I've been on both sides of the B2B lead generation game. I've hired lead gen companies when I was scaling my SaaS businesses. I've competed against them when I was building my own outbound systems. And I've watched hundreds of agencies waste money on vendors that promised the world and delivered garbage.

So let's cut through the noise. This isn't a listicle of the "top 50 lead gen companies." This is what you actually need to know before you write a check to any B2B lead generation company.

What B2B Lead Generation Companies Actually Do

Most lead gen companies fall into one of three categories, and understanding which type you're dealing with matters more than their marketing copy suggests.

List providers: These companies sell you contact data. They maintain databases of B2B emails, phone numbers, and company information. You pay them, they give you a list, and you do the outreach yourself. Companies like RocketReach and Lusha fit here. So does ScraperCity's B2B database, which I built specifically because I got tired of paying subscription fees for data I needed to own.

Done-for-you outreach services: These companies handle everything from list building to email copywriting to follow-ups. You brief them on your ideal customer profile, they run the campaigns, and they send you booked meetings. This is what most people think of when they hear "lead generation company."

Hybrid services: Some companies provide both the technology platform and the service. They'll use their tools to find leads, but they also have account managers who optimize your campaigns. Close does this with their CRM plus sales consulting.

Here's what nobody tells you: the category matters less than the quality of their execution. I've seen list providers deliver better ROI than full-service agencies because the list was clean and the targeting was tight.

Here's the full breakdown:

The Lead Generation Industry Right Now

The lead generation market is massive and still growing fast. The industry is projected to reach $295 billion by 2027, growing at roughly 17% annually. That's not just software and tools - that includes agencies, data providers, and every type of lead gen service you can imagine.

Here's why this matters: over 300,000 companies worldwide specialize in lead generation in some form. That's a crowded market full of noise, and most of them are using the exact same playbook. They're pulling from the same data sources, using similar tools, and sending variations of the same templates.

The biggest shift I've seen in the past few years is how much harder it's become to actually generate quality leads. 51% of professional services companies say it's gotten harder to win new business. The average sales cycle for B2B service businesses is around six months from initial contact to close. And here's the brutal truth: 79% of leads never convert to sales due to poor nurturing and qualification.

This means that buying meetings isn't enough. You need a vendor who understands qualification, or you need to build that capability yourself. Otherwise, you're just paying for calendar clutter.

Here's what I've seen work consistently: In my early agency days, I sent 60 emails over three days and booked nearly 20 meetings. That's a 33% meeting rate. We closed $600,000 in annual recurring revenue in 60 days using this cold email system. The companies charging $15k/month and delivering 2 meetings? They're not doing anything you can't do yourself with the right system.

The Real Cost of Outsourcing Lead Generation

Let's talk money, because this is where most companies get burned.

Done-for-you lead generation typically costs between $3,000 and $15,000 per month depending on volume and complexity. But that monthly fee is just the beginning. You're also paying in opportunity cost when the vendor doesn't understand your product, in wasted time when their messaging misses the mark, and in damaged sender reputation when they send emails from your domain without proper warming.

I've watched companies spend $50,000 on a lead gen vendor over six months and get maybe 15 qualified meetings. That's over $3,000 per meeting. Meanwhile, I've seen in-house teams using tools like Lemlist or Instantly generate 50+ meetings per month for a fraction of that cost.

The data providers are cheaper upfront - usually $100 to $500 per month for access - but you're trading money for time. You still need someone to build the lists, write the copy, send the emails, and follow up.

Here's how different pricing models break down in practice:

Cost per lead (CPL): You pay $30 to $400 per lead depending on your industry and how qualified they are. Sounds simple, but the definition of "lead" varies wildly. Are you paying for email addresses? For people who opened your email? For actual responses? Most agencies using this model will game the metrics to hit volume targets rather than quality targets.

Cost per appointment (CPA): You pay $150 to $500 per booked meeting. This aligns incentives better, but watch out - some vendors will book meetings with anyone who agrees to get on a call, regardless of fit. I've seen sales teams waste hours on meetings with people who have no budget, no authority, and no intention of buying.

Monthly retainer: You pay a flat fee, usually $5,000 to $15,000 per month, for ongoing lead gen work. This is the most common model, and it works best when you have a proven offer and you're just outsourcing execution. But if you're still testing messaging or ICP, you're paying a premium for someone else to figure out your business.

Commission-based: You pay 5% to 20% of deal value or $50 to $1,000 per lead that converts. This sounds great in theory because you only pay for results, but most quality vendors won't take this deal unless they have complete control over your sales process.

There's no universal right answer. But if you're considering outsourcing, calculate your cost-per-meeting honestly. Include setup time, management overhead, and the meetings that go nowhere because the vendor didn't qualify properly.

Red Flags That Scream "Run Away"

After working with hundreds of agencies and seeing their results, I can spot the warning signs from a mile away.

They guarantee specific meeting volumes. No legitimate lead gen company can guarantee you'll get 20 meetings per month. They don't control whether your offer resonates, whether your pricing fits the market, or whether your timing is right. Good vendors talk about process and testing, not guaranteed outcomes.

They won't show you their sender infrastructure. If a company is sending cold emails on your behalf, you need to know exactly how they're doing it. Are they warming up domains properly? Are they monitoring bounce rates? Are they using your company domain or a separate sending infrastructure? If they dodge these questions, your sender reputation is about to tank.

They use the same template for everyone. I've seen lead gen companies send literally the same email to every client, just swapping out the company name. That might work for the first few clients in a vertical, but by the time you sign up, every prospect has already seen that exact message three times.

They can't explain their data sourcing. Where do the emails come from? How often is the data refreshed? What's the bounce rate on their lists? Vague answers to these questions mean you're about to send emails to a bunch of dead addresses.

They resist giving you access to the actual campaign data. You should be able to see open rates, reply rates, bounce rates, and the exact copy being sent. If they only give you a weekly summary of "meetings booked," they're hiding something.

They don't ask about your current sender reputation. Any vendor who starts sending cold emails from your domain without first checking your current deliverability is an amateur. One bad campaign can burn your domain permanently.

They promise to "handle everything" without asking detailed questions. Good lead gen requires deep knowledge of your ICP, your value proposition, your competitive landscape, and your sales process. If a vendor says they can start generating leads without spending hours learning your business, they're lying.

When Hiring a Lead Gen Company Actually Makes Sense

I'm not anti-outsourcing. I've hired lead gen help myself. But there are specific scenarios where it works and specific scenarios where it's a waste of money.

Outsourcing makes sense when you have proven messaging and a clear ICP, but you need help with scale. If you've already generated meetings through cold outreach and you know your emails convert, a good vendor can help you 10x that output. They're execution partners, not strategists.

It makes sense when you have budget but no time to build an in-house system. If you're a founder wearing 15 hats and you need meetings next month, not next quarter, paying someone to handle the mechanical work is reasonable. Just know you're trading efficiency for speed.

It makes sense when you need specialized expertise you don't have. Some lead gen companies specialize in specific verticals or specific channels. If you're trying to reach CISO-level prospects at Fortune 500 companies and you've never done that before, hiring someone with that Rolodex can shortcut years of trial and error.

It makes sense when you're expanding into a new market or vertical where you lack domain knowledge. If you've been selling to ecommerce brands and you want to break into healthcare, a vendor with healthcare experience can help you avoid rookie mistakes.

It makes sense when you need to test a channel before committing resources. If you want to see whether cold email or LinkedIn outreach could work for your business, a 60-day pilot with a vendor is cheaper than hiring a full-time SDR and giving them three months to figure it out.

Where outsourcing doesn't make sense: when you're still figuring out product-market fit, when you don't have a proven sales process, or when you're trying to dodge the hard work of understanding your own customer. No vendor can fix those problems for you.

Hiring a lead gen company makes sense when you're already at capacity. One client asked me: "How are you different from other agencies?" The honest answer? Most aren't different at all. If you're going to outsource, make sure you're hiring someone who can show you the exact templates they're using, the specific lists they're targeting, and give you meeting rates before you sign. Anything less is just gambling with your marketing budget.

How Lead Gen Companies Source Their Data

Most lead gen companies are pulling from the same handful of data sources. Understanding where the data comes from helps you evaluate quality and price.

Large B2B databases: The big players - ZoomInfo, Apollo, RocketReach, Cognism - maintain databases of hundreds of millions of contacts. They aggregate data from public sources, partnerships, user contributions, and web scraping. These databases are convenient but expensive, and the data quality varies wildly by industry and region.

Web scraping and automation: Some vendors build custom scrapers to pull data from LinkedIn, company websites, industry directories, and other public sources. This can give you more targeted, up-to-date data than the big databases, but it requires technical expertise. I built ScraperCity specifically for this - unlimited access to B2B contact data without per-credit pricing.

Intent data providers: Companies like Bombora and 6sense track which companies are researching specific topics based on their web activity. This helps identify prospects who are actively in-market. Intent data is powerful when combined with contact data, but it's expensive and works best for larger deal sizes.

Technographic data: Services like BuiltWith and Datanyze identify what technologies companies are using. If you sell to companies using specific software, technographic data lets you build hyper-targeted lists. ScraperCity's BuiltWith scraper gives you this capability without monthly subscription fees.

Manual research: The most expensive but most accurate approach. Humans manually research companies and contacts based on specific criteria. This works for high-value, highly targeted campaigns but doesn't scale.

The dirty secret: many "full-service" lead gen agencies are just reselling access to the same data platforms you could buy directly, then marking up the price 3x to 5x. Ask where the data comes from. If they're vague, assume they're using Apollo or ZoomInfo and charging you a premium for access you could get yourself.

The In-House Alternative: Building Your Own Lead Gen System

Here's what I've built across my companies, and what I teach people to build when they realize outsourcing isn't working:

Start with a simple data stack. You need a way to find leads and a way to verify the emails are valid. I use my own B2B database for this, but you could also combine Apollo with Findymail for email verification. The key is owning your data, not renting it month-to-month.

If you're targeting specific niches, use specialized scrapers. For local businesses, Google Maps data is goldmine. For ecommerce, scrape Shopify stores with tools designed for that. For real estate agents, pull from Zillow. Specificity beats volume every time.

Set up dedicated sending infrastructure. Don't send cold emails from your main company domain. Buy 3-5 similar domains, warm them up properly using a tool like Smartlead, and rotate sending across them. This protects your main domain and gives you much better deliverability.

Here's why this matters: cold email deliverability is harder than regular email. When you're reaching out to people who don't know you, a percentage will mark your emails as spam no matter how good your offer is. Email providers like Google and Microsoft weight spam reports heavily. One campaign with a 2% spam rate can tank your sender reputation for months.

The best practice: send no more than 50-100 emails per day per domain. Use multiple domains to scale volume. Keep one sending address per domain to minimize spam contamination. If one domain gets flagged, your others are protected. This is exactly why professional lead gen operations use 10+ domains - not to be shady, but to manage risk.

Write specific, personalized email copy. Not AI-generated garbage. Not template spam. Real emails that reference something specific about the prospect's company or situation. I've sent hundreds of thousands of cold emails, and personalization is still the single biggest factor in reply rates.

The average cold email open rate is 27.7% for B2B. The average response rate is 5.1%. But with strong personalization and relevant offers, I regularly see 40%+ open rates and 10%+ reply rates. The difference isn't the tools - it's the research and relevance.

Build a follow-up sequence that doesn't quit after one email. Most people give up way too early. I typically run 4-6 touch points over three weeks. The majority of my meetings come from follow-up #3 or #4, not the initial email. Research shows that following up within 3 days increases replies by 31%, but following up within 1 day decreases response rates by 11%. Timing matters.

Track everything in a proper CRM. You need to know your open rates, reply rates, meeting-booked rates, and show-up rates. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. Close is my go-to for this. The data tells you what's working and what needs to change.

This system takes about 20-40 hours to set up properly and maybe 5-10 hours per week to maintain once it's running. Compare that to the $5,000/month you'd pay a vendor, and the economics get interesting fast.

How to Evaluate Lead Gen Companies If You're Going to Hire One

If you've decided outsourcing is the right move, here's how to separate the professionals from the scammers.

Ask for case studies in your specific vertical. Not generic testimonials. Actual campaign data showing what they did for a company similar to yours. If they've never worked in your industry before, you're paying them to learn on your dime.

Request a sample list before you commit. Tell them your ICP and ask them to pull 50 sample contacts. Check the quality yourself. Google the companies. Look up the people on LinkedIn. Are these actually decision-makers or did they just scrape generic "marketing manager" titles?

Review their email copy samples. Ask to see the actual campaigns they've run for other clients. Do the emails sound human or like chatbot output? Are they relevant to the recipient or generic spray-and-pray? If every email starts with "I was looking at your website and..." run away. That template stopped working in 2018.

Understand their reporting cadence. Weekly is the minimum. You should see granular data on sends, opens, replies, and meeting conversion rates. If they only report on meetings booked, you have no visibility into what's actually working. Ask for access to the raw data - bounce rates, spam complaints, unsubscribe rates. These metrics tell the real story.

Get clear on sender infrastructure. Will they use your domain or theirs? How do they handle bounce management? What happens if deliverability tanks? These questions reveal whether they actually understand email deliverability or they're just winging it. Best practice: they should use secondary domains that are similar to but separate from your main domain.

Ask about their warm-up process. Any legitimate vendor warms up domains for at least 2-4 weeks before sending cold emails. They should use automated tools that gradually increase sending volume while maintaining positive engagement. If they say "we can start sending on day one," they're about to burn your domains.

Understand how they handle responses. Who monitors replies? How quickly do they forward qualified leads to your team? What's their process for handling objections or questions? If they're booking meetings but not pre-qualifying, you'll waste hours on bad-fit calls.

Start with a pilot program. Never sign a 12-month contract upfront. Run a 60-day pilot with clear success metrics. If they hit those metrics, scale up. If they don't, cut your losses. Good vendors are confident enough to agree to performance-based pilots.

Check their own outbound. How did they reach you? If they're pitching lead gen services through cold email, look at the quality of their own campaigns. Is their messaging personalized? Is their follow-up sequence well-crafted? Do they practice what they preach? If their own outreach is mediocre, their client campaigns will be worse.

The Tools Worth Knowing About

Whether you build in-house or hire help, you need to understand the tool landscape because most lead gen companies are just reselling access to these platforms anyway.

For data sourcing, the big players are Apollo, ZoomInfo, and RocketReach. I also built a lead database because I wanted unlimited access without per-credit pricing eating into margins. If you're doing local business outreach, the Maps scraper pulls data other tools miss.

For email sending, Smartlead and Instantly are the current leaders for cold email infrastructure. They handle domain rotation, warmup, and deliverability monitoring. Lemlist is also solid if you want more creative features like video personalization.

For email validation, use Findymail or an email validator before you send. Bounce rates above 5% will kill your sender reputation fast. Invalid addresses damage deliverability more than low engagement, so this step isn't optional.

For finding direct phone numbers, most data providers give you company switchboard numbers that are useless for cold calling. Tools like mobile finders help you get direct dials and cell phones. This matters if you're running multi-channel campaigns that include calls.

For enrichment and automation, Clay has become the power user's choice. It lets you chain together multiple data sources and build custom workflows that would take hours manually. The learning curve is steep, but the capability is unmatched for complex lead gen operations.

For LinkedIn outreach, tools like Expandi automate connection requests and messaging while staying under LinkedIn's radar. LinkedIn can be a goldmine - 89% of B2B professionals use it for lead generation - but you need to move slowly and personalize heavily to avoid getting banned.

Understanding these tools matters because when a lead gen company tells you they have "proprietary technology," they usually just mean they've duct-taped together these same platforms. You're often better off learning the tools yourself.

What Makes Lead Gen Actually Work: The Fundamentals

All the tools and vendors in the world won't save you if you ignore the fundamentals. Here's what actually moves the needle.

Tight ICP definition. The companies that get the best results from lead gen - whether in-house or outsourced - can describe their ideal customer in extreme detail. Not "B2B SaaS companies" but "Series B SaaS companies with 50-200 employees, $5M-$20M ARR, selling to enterprise customers, using Salesforce, based in the US." That level of specificity lets you personalize meaningfully.

Value proposition clarity. Your prospect needs to understand what you do and why they should care within 10 seconds. If your messaging is vague or jargon-heavy, no amount of outreach volume will fix it. I see companies spending $10,000/month on lead gen while their value prop is incomprehensible. Fix the message first, then scale distribution.

Multi-touch sequences. One email doesn't work. One LinkedIn message doesn't work. You need multiple touches across multiple channels over multiple weeks. The data is clear: most meetings come from follow-up #3 or later. But you also need to know when to quit. I use 6 touches over 3 weeks, then I stop. Persistence is good; stalking is bad.

Fast response time. When someone replies to your outreach, how quickly do you respond? Research shows that following up within 5 minutes increases conversion by 9x compared to waiting an hour. If you're outsourcing lead gen but your sales team takes 24 hours to respond to warm leads, you're killing your own conversion rate.

Lead nurturing infrastructure. Only about 3% of your market is ready to buy right now. The other 97% might buy later. Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost. This means you need email sequences, retargeting ads, content offers, and CRM workflows to stay in front of prospects who aren't ready yet.

Continuous testing and optimization. What worked six months ago might not work today. Open rates, reply rates, and meeting show rates shift over time as prospects see more outreach. I test new subject lines, email structures, and CTAs every month. Small improvements compound - a 2% increase in reply rate might mean 10 additional meetings per month.

The biggest mistake I see is agencies overthinking the message. When I was building backlinks for BrowseDomains, I used this simple template: "Noticed you've written about [competitor tool] before, so I figured you'd find this useful. I built an alternative..." No fancy copywriting, just direct value. That approach got us free PR and legitimate backlinks. Your lead gen should be the same-clear offer, relevant recipient, simple ask.

Common Mistakes That Kill Lead Gen ROI

I've seen these mistakes hundreds of times. They're expensive and avoidable.

Buying email lists. I don't care how "targeted" the vendor says the list is. Purchased lists are full of spam traps, outdated contacts, and people who didn't opt in. Your first campaign will get 15% bounce rate, 3% spam complaints, and you'll burn your domain. Always build your own lists or use reputable data sources with verification.

Ignoring deliverability until it's too late. Most companies don't realize they have a deliverability problem until their emails are already going to spam. By then, fixing it takes months. Monitor your inbox placement rate from day one. If you're landing in spam or promotions, no one will see your brilliant copy.

Over-automating personalization. AI tools make it easy to insert merge tags and write "personalized" first lines. But prospects can smell fake personalization from a mile away. "I noticed you recently posted about [topic]" only works if the observation is actually relevant and the rest of your email is contextual. Bad personalization is worse than no personalization.

Sending from your primary domain. Never, ever send cold emails from your primary company domain. One bad campaign can tank your reputation and start sending your regular business emails to spam. Always use secondary domains that are similar but separate. This is non-negotiable.

Focusing on volume over quality. Sending 1,000 emails to loosely-targeted prospects will generate fewer meetings than sending 200 emails to tightly-targeted prospects with personalized messaging. I've proven this repeatedly. Quality beats volume in B2B lead gen, especially as inboxes get more crowded.

Not aligning sales and marketing on lead definition. Marketing thinks they're generating great leads. Sales thinks the leads are garbage. This happens because no one agreed upfront what constitutes a qualified lead. Document your lead criteria - company size, title, industry, budget signals, timing indicators. Get buy-in from both teams.

Giving up too early. I've watched companies run one campaign, get mediocre results, and declare that "cold email doesn't work for us." Lead gen is iterative. Your first campaign is a test. Your second campaign incorporates learnings. Your fifth campaign is where you hit stride. Plan for 90 days of testing before you evaluate channel viability.

Alternatives to Traditional Lead Gen Companies

The traditional agency model isn't your only option. Here are alternatives that might work better depending on your situation.

Freelance SDRs: Hire an experienced SDR on contract to build your outbound system. They'll set up the tools, build the lists, write the sequences, and handle the outreach. This costs $3,000-$6,000/month, less than most agencies, and you get someone who works exclusively for you. Find them on Upwork or in sales communities.

Virtual assistants plus tools: Hire a VA for $1,500-$2,500/month to handle list building and research, then you write the copy and manage the campaigns. This works if you have the expertise but not the time for execution. VAs in the Philippines or Latin America can handle the mechanical work while you focus on strategy.

Sales development software: Platforms like Smartlead or Instantly cost $100-$300/month and do most of what an agency does - domain rotation, warm-up, campaign management, deliverability monitoring. You provide the copy and strategy; they provide the infrastructure. For technical founders, this is often the best ROI.

LinkedIn organic outreach: Instead of paying for LinkedIn automation or ads, invest time in content creation and manual outreach. This doesn't scale like email, but the quality of conversations is often higher. One founder I know books 10-15 meetings per month just by posting daily and responding to comments. Zero ad spend.

Partnerships and affiliates: Find companies selling to the same customer base and build referral relationships. This takes longer to develop but the leads are much warmer. I've built several businesses primarily through partner referrals. The CAC is lower and the close rate is higher than any outbound channel.

Community-led growth: Build or participate in communities where your buyers hang out. Slack groups, Discord servers, LinkedIn groups, industry forums. Provide value consistently and opportunities emerge organically. This is a long game, but some of the best deals I've closed came from relationships built in communities.

The LinkedIn Lead Generation Factor

You can't talk about B2B lead gen without addressing LinkedIn. It's where your buyers live, and it's getting more crowded by the day.

The numbers are compelling: 89% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for lead generation. The platform hosts over 770 million professionals including 2.8 million decision-makers. 62% of professionals say LinkedIn generates 2x more leads than the next best social channel. For B2B, LinkedIn dominates.

But here's what the statistics don't tell you: LinkedIn is also increasingly noisy. Your prospects are getting dozens of connection requests per week from sellers using the same playbook. The average response rate to cold LinkedIn outreach has dropped as volume has increased.

What still works on LinkedIn:

Personalized connection requests: Generic "I'd like to add you to my professional network" requests get ignored. Mention something specific about their profile, a mutual connection, or a piece of content they shared. Keep it under 200 characters.

Value-first messaging: Don't pitch in the first message after they accept your connection. Share a relevant resource, make an introduction, or ask a thoughtful question. Build rapport before asking for anything.

Multi-channel coordination: Use LinkedIn to research prospects, then reach them via email. Or send an email first, then a LinkedIn message as a follow-up. Multi-channel touches significantly increase response rates, but the channels need to work together, not compete.

Content creation: Publishing content on LinkedIn positions you as an expert and gives prospects a reason to engage. I've booked more meetings from people who discovered me through my posts than from direct outreach. The content does the selling for you.

If you're going to use LinkedIn automation tools, go slow. LinkedIn actively hunts for automation and bans accounts aggressively. Stay under 100 connection requests per week. Personalize everything. Use cloud-based tools like Expandi that mimic human behavior rather than browser extensions that scream "bot."

LinkedIn ads can work, but be realistic about the cost. I've seen campaigns where agencies pay $300 per lead, sometimes $2,000-$3,000 per sale. Compare that to cold email where you can send thousands of messages for under $100/month. One client I consulted recently was testing this angle: "Hey Michael, you might have heard of me, I'm the guy helping all your competitors scale huge with LinkedIn ads." It's provocative, but the economics still favor email for most B2B companies.

The Future of B2B Lead Generation

The lead gen landscape is changing fast. Here's what I'm watching.

AI is eating the playbook: AI can now write personalized emails, score leads, and optimize send times. Marketing automation software increases qualified leads by 451% according to recent data. But here's the paradox: as AI makes personalization easier, genuine human personalization becomes more valuable. The bar is rising.

Intent data is becoming table stakes: Knowing which companies are actively researching your category used to be a nice-to-have. Now it's essential for competitive lead gen. The companies using intent data to prioritize outreach are seeing dramatically higher conversion rates than those doing cold outreach blind.

Multi-channel is the only channel: Email-only campaigns don't work like they did five years ago. LinkedIn-only doesn't work. Phone-only doesn't work. You need coordinated touches across email, LinkedIn, phone, and potentially ads and direct mail. The companies winning at lead gen are orchestrating complex multi-channel sequences.

Privacy regulations are tightening: GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, and similar laws coming to more jurisdictions mean you need to be careful about how you source and use contact data. The days of scraping everything and spamming everyone are ending. Legitimate, consensual outreach is becoming more important.

Deliverability is getting harder: Gmail and Outlook are getting much more aggressive about filtering cold emails. Authentication requirements are stricter. Engagement metrics matter more. The technical bar for successful cold email continues to rise. If you're not monitoring sender reputation and inbox placement, you're already behind.

Should You Outsource or Build In-House?

This is the question everyone asks, and the answer depends entirely on your situation.

Outsource if you need speed, lack expertise, want to test a channel before committing, or have budget but no bandwidth. A good vendor can get you results in 30-60 days versus 3-6 months to build in-house.

Build in-house if you're playing the long game, have complex sales that require deep product knowledge, want to own the process and data, or need maximum flexibility to test and iterate quickly. The unit economics are better and you're not dependent on a vendor.

The hybrid approach: start with a vendor to prove the channel works and learn the playbook, then bring it in-house once you understand what's working. This gives you speed to value while building toward long-term ownership.

My recommendation for most B2B companies: build in-house from the start. Yes, it's more work upfront. But you'll learn faster, iterate quicker, and own an asset rather than rent access. Use the money you'd pay an agency to hire a junior SDR and invest in tools. In 12 months, you'll be glad you did.

I'm biased toward building in-house because I've lived both sides. Early in my career, I got burned working with what I thought was a $100 million startup-turned out the CEO was also playing five other employees. I lost everything. That experience taught me that owning your lead generation system means you control your pipeline. If you can send 20 emails a day and book 3-4 meetings yourself, why pay someone $10k/month to do it for you?

The Bottom Line

B2B lead generation companies can work, but most companies hire them for the wrong reasons at the wrong time.

If you have proven messaging, a clear ICP, and a working sales process, outsourcing can help you scale faster. But if you're still figuring out your positioning or you don't have a repeatable way to close deals, no amount of meetings will save you.

The best approach for most companies is to build the system in-house first, even if it's scrappy, so you understand what actually works. Then you can outsource execution while maintaining strategic control.

And if you're building in-house, invest in proper infrastructure from day one. Use solid data sources, set up dedicated sending domains, write actual good emails, and track everything obsessively.

I've used both approaches across my companies. The in-house method takes more upfront work, but the unit economics are dramatically better and you're not dependent on a vendor who might ghost you after three months.

Want to make sure you're set up for success before you start reaching out? Grab my one-page contract template so you're ready when those meetings start converting. And check out how to structure agreements that protect you while keeping deals moving fast.

If you need help figuring out whether to build or buy your lead gen system, or you want guidance building your in-house operation, join us where we work through exactly these questions with active sales professionals.