An SDR seat, priced over three years

January is planning season, which means somewhere right now a spreadsheet has a row that says "SDR hire" with a salary next to it. That row is the most underpriced line in B2B budgeting, and not because the salary figure is wrong. Because the salary figure is the visible tip of a three-year cost structure, and plans only price year one of it. This post is the whole iceberg. It is also the foundation for most of what we will publish this year, so we are starting here.

Year one: the fully loaded month

Stack the real monthly costs of a US in-house SDR and the picture changes fast: median base salary near $4,600, variable compensation around $1,700, benefits and payroll taxes about $1,600, data and phone tooling near $800, five-ish hours a week of management time worth about $900, and the amortized cost of a four-to-six-month ramp adding roughly $700. The honest total lands at roughly $10,000 a month, fully loaded, before the seat has produced its first qualified meeting. The complete line-by-line version lives on our math page.

Years two and three: the number nobody budgets

Now the part the planning spreadsheet never contains. US SDR turnover runs 34 to 40 percent a year, roughly triple the all-role average, and median tenure sits under two years. The role is a promotion track by design, so even success ends the seat. One in five new SDRs is gone inside ninety days.

Each departure costs $78,000 or more once you count recruiting, the empty-seat weeks, and a new ramp at full salary. Model it over three years and perpetual replacement adds $52,000 to $99,000 per seat per year on top of everything above. The seat you budgeted once, you will staff three times, and pay for the learning curve three times.

What this math is for

It is not an argument against the role. Sales development is essential, and companies with proven motions and real management bandwidth should build teams of it. The argument is against pricing the decision at the salary line. Whatever path you choose, in-house, outsourced, or some mix, the comparison has to start from roughly $10,000 a month and a turnover clock, because that is what the market actually charges for the seat.

Our own answer to this math is one dedicated, full-time rep inside a managed system at $3,499 a month, published, month to month, with the churn risk carried by us instead of you. Around 65 percent below the loaded in-house seat, before the turnover math is even counted.

If 2026 planning has an SDR row in it, book a strategy call before you commit the budget. Bring the spreadsheet. We will run the three-year version together, and if in-house is your right answer, we will say so.