Ravdeep Roewal
Key takeaways
Most sales teams would love a fuller diary, but very few closers want to spend their mornings cold calling. So a lot of UK firms hand that part of the job to an appointment setter, someone who starts the conversations, checks there’s real interest, and books the meeting. More and more of them use a dedicated offshore appointment setter who works UK hours.
Get it right and your salespeople spend their week in actual sales conversations. Get it wrong and you can end up paying for meetings nobody attends, or breaking marketing rules without realising. Below, we look at the costs, the rules on calling UK businesses, and what to do about no-shows.
What an Appointment Setter Actually Does
Their day usually starts with a target list. They research the businesses on it, then get in touch by phone, email, or LinkedIn and explain why a short call might be worth the prospect’s time. If the answer’s yes, they book it into your salesperson’s diary.
They don’t close deals, and they shouldn’t try to. A good setter’s real value is in passing over useful notes, such as who the prospect is, what they need, and anything they mentioned on the call. The work is repetitive, which is exactly why it suits someone focused on it full-time rather than a salesperson fitting it in between other jobs.
Some firms pair the setter with a lead generation specialist. In that setup, one person builds and researches the list, and the other turns the interested replies into meetings.
How the Offshore Setup Works
You’ve broadly got two choices. You can take on a dedicated setter who works only for your business, or you can use an agency with a managed team. In both cases the setter is based overseas but works UK hours, inside your CRM and diary, using your scripts.
| Dedicated setter | Agency team | |
|---|---|---|
| Who they work for | Only your business | Several clients at once |
| Product knowledge | Learns your product and how you like to sound | Shared across accounts |
| Management and tools | Your team, plus the provider’s team lead | The agency’s own managers and tools |
In our experience the arrangement works best when your UK team keeps hold of the offer, the target list, and the compliance rules, and the offshore setter gets on with the daily outreach. If your CRM is full of old or duplicate records, a dedicated CRM administrator can tidy it up so your setter isn’t ringing people who left the company two years ago.
What a Setter Costs
It’s worth starting with the cost of hiring in the UK. Coburg Banks puts base salaries for sales development representatives at £24,000 to £38,000, and says commission usually adds another 30% to 60%. Payscale has the average base at £30,002 this year.
That’s before employer National Insurance, which is 15% on earnings over £5,000 according to HMRC’s rates for employers. Then there’s pension, a recruiter’s fee, a laptop, software licences, and the time your sales manager spends coaching them.
UK base salary
£24k–£38kplus 30% to 60% commission (Coburg Banks)
Employer NI
15%on earnings over £5,000 a year
Offshore setter
From £950per month for a dedicated appointment setter
An offshore setter is normally one monthly fee instead. As an example, dedicated offshore appointment setters start from £950 per month, against a UK market rate of £31,000 to £45,000 a year. How much you actually save will depend on seniority, hours, tools, and how much training you put in.
| Cost line | UK in-house setter | Dedicated offshore setter |
|---|---|---|
| Pay | £24,000 to £38,000 base, plus commission | A monthly fee, sometimes with a bonus per held meeting |
| National Insurance and pension | On top of salary | Usually included (check the contract) |
| Tools and data | You pay | Shared or passed on (check who pays) |
| Management | Your sales manager’s time | Your time, plus the provider’s team lead |
If you’d like a figure for your own situation, the offshore staffing cost calculator gives a rough starting point.
The Rules on Calling UK Businesses
This is the part people tend to skip, and it can cost far more than any salary. Both people and businesses can sign up to say they don’t want marketing calls. The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) covers individuals, sole traders, and some partnerships, while the Corporate TPS (CTPS) covers companies.
According to the ICO’s guidance on business-to-business marketing, you can’t make live marketing calls to a registered number unless that business has agreed to hear from you. You also can’t call anyone who has told you not to before. So every number needs checking against both registers, and you’ll want your own do-not-call list on top.
Whoever calls has to say who they’re calling for, and you need to be able to show where your data came from. The ICO’s telephone marketing guidance goes through the detail.
There’s a data side to this as well. If someone abroad can see your prospects’ personal details, UK GDPR treats that as an international transfer, even when the files stay on a UK server. The ICO’s brief guide to international transfers explains what paperwork you’ll need.
Outsourcing the calls doesn’t outsource the risk
Aria Grace Law reports the ICO’s view that firms can’t use third parties to dodge responsibility. TPSClear also points out that the business supplying the data can be held responsible alongside whoever made the calls.
Show Rates, and Why They Matter More Than Bookings
A show rate is simply the percentage of booked meetings that actually happen. It’s easy to miss, because a diary full of bookings looks great on a weekly report. If half of them don’t turn up, though, your pipeline hasn’t really moved.
Most published benchmarks come from US and Australian agencies rather than UK research, so treat them as a rough guide. GrowLeads suggests aiming for 65% to 80%. Uplift Sales says cold-booked meetings no-show more than warm ones. It also says a no-show rate above 25% is worth looking at, and that if fewer than 60% of meetings happen, something bigger needs fixing.
Healthy
65–80%of booked meetings going ahead
Worth a look
25%+no-show rate
Something’s wrong
Under 60%of meetings actually happening
If plenty of meetings are being booked but not many happen, the problem is usually the follow-up rather than the script. A few things tend to help:
- send the invite straight away, then a reminder and a short agenda the day before
- only book people who can make a decision and have a real need, even if someone else on the call was friendlier
- link any bonus to meetings that happened and were worth having
Those meetings are hard won, too. Intelemark puts the average lead-to-meeting rate at 2.23%, so there’s a lot of work behind every one that goes ahead.
Why Many Firms Look to India
India is a common choice for UK firms hiring setters. There’s a big English-speaking talent pool and plenty of people with outbound calling experience, and dedicated setters can be hired to work UK business hours.
Before choosing a provider, ask to hear some real call recordings. It’s also worth asking how they check numbers against the TPS and CTPS, and what they do to keep your data safe. Some businesses split the work, with the setter on email and LinkedIn and an offshore telesales executive handling the calls.
Is It Worth It for Your Business?
The usual reasons firms give are a lower cost per meeting, a quicker start than recruiting in the UK, and more time for closers to sell. Whether those hold up for you depends on your offer, your market, and how well the handover works.
We’d suggest a short pilot with clear targets for meetings held and qualified. If the numbers look healthy after two or three months, you’ll have a solid case for scaling it up. When you’re ready, book a consultation and we’ll help you plan it.
See your exact saving in 60 seconds
Enter the role and salary, and we’ll show you the annual difference against a UK hire.