Pricing outsourced sales in pounds, a guide to UK regional rates

What to take away

How to read a pound-denominated day rate for outsourced sales

A pound-denominated day rate is the price a client pays for one day of an outsourced sales professional's time, quoted in pounds sterling. It is not the same as a retainer, and it is not the same as commission. Confusing the three is the fastest way to underprice a contract.

The day rate covers salary, employer National Insurance, pension and software. Management and margin sit on top of that. Strip them out and you get the cost base; add them back and you get the rate you can defend in a proposal.

Employer National Insurance and pension auto-enrolment are not optional. They are charged on top of gross pay, so a salary figure alone tells you almost nothing about what a role costs to deliver.

Across UK regions including Greater London and the North West, the cost base is the main variable. London salaries, office space and competition for experienced salespeople all sit above the national average. Manchester and Liverpool employ the same roles for less, so the day rate falls, though not by as much as clients expect.

A useful rule: the day rate should cover at least two days of delivery for every day of management. If it does not, the contract is subsidising the client.

VAT treatment matters here. Most outsourced sales services are standard-rated at 20%, so a £500 day rate becomes £600 on the invoice unless the client can recover it. The published VAT rates on different goods and services set out which services carry that charge, so confirm the treatment before you quote a headline figure.

Day rates also vary by seniority. A business development representative sits at the bottom, an account executive in the middle, and a sales director at the top. Each band needs its own line on the rate card, and each carries a different expectation of results.

A day rate is not always charged by the day. Some clients buy blocks of days, some buy outcomes. The pound figure still anchors the negotiation either way.

For a fuller breakdown of what sits inside the rate, see our cost guide.

The components of a day rate

Each component scales differently by region. Salary and office costs vary most; software and data costs are broadly national.

Retainer bands in Greater London and the North West

Retainer bands are the monthly fees a client pays for a defined scope of work, usually a set number of days or a set number of meetings. They sit above day rates because they carry a commitment, and the client is buying capacity rather than a single day.

In Greater London, retainer bands for outsourced sales typically run from a junior single-person engagement at the lower end to a multi-person team at the upper end. The spread is wide because London buyers range from seed-stage tech companies to financial-services firms with long procurement cycles.

In the North West, the same bands sit lower. Manchester and Liverpool have a growing B2B agency cluster, and the cost of employing a salesperson is below London. That does not mean cheap work; it means the same scope costs less to deliver.

The mistake clients make is comparing a London retainer with a North West retainer on price alone. A London retainer often includes access to buyers that a North West team cannot reach as easily, and that access has value.

Rates current as of 2026.

These bands are indicative. They assume a defined scope, a named contact and a minimum term. They do not include commission, which sits on top.

Retainers also carry risk. A client who pays a retainer for three months and sees no pipeline will leave. That is why the best agencies set expectations in the contract, not in the sales call.

Scope discipline is what separates a profitable retainer from a subsidised one. Write down what the client gets, how often, and what happens when the scope changes.

If you are comparing structures, our piece on costs and pricing explains why quotes for the same brief can differ by thousands.

What drives the regional retainer gap

Office rents, salaries and competition for experienced salespeople set the floor for a retainer. Greater London carries the highest costs on all three, which pushes its bands up.

Buyer concentration matters too. London has a dense cluster of financial-services and technology buyers with long procurement cycles, and those buyers often pay for access rather than volume.

The North West has lower delivery costs and a strong base of manufacturing and professional-services clients. That mix supports lower bands without reducing the scope.

Commission benchmarks in the West Midlands and Scotland

Commission benchmarks are the percentages paid on closed revenue or on meetings booked. They vary by region, sector and deal size, and they are the most negotiated part of any outsourced sales contract.

In the West Midlands, commission benchmarks for outsourced sales typically sit between 5% and 12% of closed revenue. Manufacturing, automotive supply and professional services dominate, and deal sizes are often larger than in consumer-facing sectors, so a lower percentage still produces meaningful earnings.

In Scotland, benchmarks sit in a similar range, though the mix of sectors differs. Energy, financial services and public-sector suppliers are prominent, and public-sector procurement can stretch the sales cycle, which pushes commission up on longer deals.

Commission should be tied to cash collected, not to contracts signed. A signed contract that never pays is not revenue, and paying commission on it damages the agency.

For meetings booked rather than revenue closed, benchmarks are usually a fixed fee per qualified meeting, with a clawback if the meeting is cancelled or the contact is wrong. That structure suits clients who want to control the close themselves.

A worked example makes this concrete. An anonymised West Midlands manufacturer works with an agency. The agency books 20 qualified meetings a month at £150 each and closes 10% of them at an average deal size of £12,000. Monthly revenue from those deals is £24,000.

At a 10% commission, the agency earns £2,400 on top of the meeting fees. If the client insists on 5%, the agency earns £1,200, which may not cover the cost of delivery.

Scotland's public-sector demand is shaped partly by regional policy. Levelling Up the United Kingdom directed investment into B2B services across the UK, and suppliers in Scotland and the West Midlands have felt that demand.

Commission benchmarks should be reviewed annually. A rate that worked when deal sizes were smaller may not work when they grow.

Setting a commission rate

What inflation and productivity data mean for rate cards

Inflation and price indices affect pricing strategies and cost structures for agencies. When input costs rise, day rates and retainers must rise too, or margin disappears.

The Office for National Statistics publishes the inflation and price indices, including the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH), which most UK agencies use as their reference point. Wage inflation in sales roles tends to run ahead of headline inflation, so a rate card built on the headline figure alone will lag.

Productivity data indicates efficiency trends in sales and business services. If output per hour is rising, an agency can absorb some cost increases without raising prices. If it is flat or falling, price rises are harder to avoid.

The ONS release on economic output and productivity is the place to check that trend before you set next year's rates.

Region matters here too. London wage inflation has historically run above the UK average, while the North West, West Midlands and Scotland have seen slower increases. A single national rate card will be wrong in at least one region.

VAT is the other fixed factor. Standard-rated services carry 20% VAT, and clients who cannot recover it feel the full increase. That makes headline rate rises harder to sell than they look on paper.

The practical response is the same: build the assumption into the rate card now rather than renegotiate mid-term.

Building inflation into the contract

A rate card should include an annual review clause. Without one, the agency absorbs every cost increase until the contract ends. With one, the client knows what to expect and the relationship survives the conversation.

A rate-card template you can adapt by region

A rate-card template is a single document that lists roles, day rates, retainer bands and commission benchmarks, with a column for each region. It saves time and makes proposals comparable.

Start with the role list. Use the same role names across regions so clients can compare like with like. Then set a day rate for each role, a retainer band for each scope, and a commission benchmark for each deal type.

Add a column for Greater London, one for the North West, one for the West Midlands and one for Scotland. If you operate in other regions, add them, but keep the structure identical.

Include a notes column for anything that changes the price: security clearance, sector experience, travel, or a minimum term. These are the details that turn a quote into a contract.

Our budget template shows how to hold the numbers once the rate card is agreed.

Indicative regional rate card

Rates current as of 2026.

Use the same template for every proposal. Change the numbers, not the structure.

When to renegotiate rates as regional costs move

Renegotiate when the cost of delivery has moved beyond what your margin can absorb. That is a financial test, not a calendar event.

In Greater London, wage inflation and office costs move fastest, so London contracts need the most frequent review. In the North West, West Midlands and Scotland, the trigger is usually a change in the client's scope or a shift in the sector mix.

Set a threshold. If the cost of delivering the contract rises by more than a set percentage, the review clause activates. Below that, absorb it and keep the relationship stable.

Clients accept reviews when they are written into the contract from the start. They resist them when they arrive as a surprise mid-term.

Regional policy can also shift demand. Levelling Up investment changed where B2B buyers spend, and agencies serving those buyers should revisit their regional rate cards when funding priorities change.

The region changes the trigger point, not the principle. A London margin absorbs less wage inflation than a North West one before the numbers stop working.

If you are still deciding between structures, our comparison of pricing models covers the trade-offs.

A simple review process

Common questions