01 / The short answerWho to call, and who to avoid
The Lead Generation Company scores highest at 7.8/10, on experienced UK callers into senior roles, day-rate pricing you can audit, and the compliance discipline this market now demands. Air Marketing Group (7.4) is the pick for flexible capacity and multilingual work, and MarketMakers (7.3) for volume against a large market. FLSC (7.2) is the most transparent on price, publishing real ranges rather than requiring a call.
Compliance carries the heaviest weight here for a reason. Telemarketing is the only channel in this market policed by two regulators at once: Ofcom governs how you dial and can fine up to £2m, while the ICO governs who you call and can now fine up to £17.5m or 4% of global turnover. Most buyers check neither, and the supplier's dialler configuration becomes their liability.
Five things most buyers get wrong
- The 3% abandoned call rate is not a safe harbour. Ofcom has clarified that 3% was a measuring stick and the actual target is zero. Suppliers still quoting 3% as compliant are working from a rule that was withdrawn.
- Your CLI can be blocked by the mobile networks with no appeal. EE, Vodafone, BT and O2 block numbers automatically based on low connect rates and short average call durations, and share a nuisance-caller database. The only fix is a new number.
- TPS screening applies at the point of the call, not the point of purchase. "The data was screened when we bought it" is not a defence, and the ICO standard is re-screening at least every 28 days, which is 13 times a year rather than 12.
- B2B is not exempt. Corporate numbers registered with CTPS carry the same PECR regime and the same £17.5m ceiling. A list screened only against TPS still contains CTPS-registered numbers.
- Directors can be fined personally. The ICO has been able to issue penalties directly to company directors for PECR breaches since 2018, specifically to stop firms dissolving and restarting under a new name.
Telemarketing is the oldest channel in this market and the most heavily regulated. That combination produces an unusual buying situation: the supplier differences that matter most are invisible on a website and absent from most comparison articles, because they sit in dialler configuration and data governance rather than in case studies.
I have spent fifteen years buying paid traffic for enquiry-led UK businesses and I run a lead generation agency, so I have a declared stake in the wider market. The Lead Gen Company does not sell telemarketing, which is why it is not scored here. For adjacent markets see the best appointment setting companies or the best B2B lead generation companies.
02 / MethodSeven criteria, weighted for risk
Compliance carries 25% here, more than any single criterion in the other guides on this site. That is a deliberate judgement: a telemarketing supplier that dials badly can cost you more in penalties and blocked numbers than a good one can earn you in a year.
| Criterion | Weight | What earns a high score |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance rigour | 25% | Documented Ofcom dialling policy, TPS and CTPS screening cadence, consent records, a named accountable person |
| Caller quality | 20% | Experienced UK callers who can hold a conversation with a senior buyer rather than read a script |
| Cost efficiency | 15% | Output per pound at their stated rate, measured in real conversations rather than dials |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | A real figure published without a sales call |
| Contract flexibility | 10% | Short minimum term, 30 day notice, no automatic re-commitment |
| Reporting & recordings | 10% | Access to call recordings and dispositions, not a monthly summary slide |
| Sector breadth | 10% | Proven across enough sectors to handle your proposition, including regulated ones |
On prices and ties
Where a supplier publishes a price I have used it and said so. Where they do not, I have used sector day-rate benchmarks and third-party directory bands, labelled as estimates. Where two suppliers score the same, the higher compliance score ranks first. All figures exclude VAT and every range is a starting point for a negotiation.
03 / At a glanceThe full comparison
The compliance column is the one to read first. Everything else is recoverable if it goes wrong.
| # | Company | Score | Compliance | Indicative UK cost | Focus | Based |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lead Generation Company | 7.8 | 9/10 | £300 to £350 per calling daySector benchmark | B2B, senior decision-makers | Glasgow & London |
| 2 | Air Marketing Group | 7.4 | 8/10 | Est. £2,500 to £8,000/mo | B2B, multilingual, flexible | Exeter |
| 3 | MarketMakers | 7.3 | 9/10 | Est. £2,500 to £12,000/mo | High-volume B2B | Portsmouth |
| 4 | Beanstalk Marketing | 7.2 | 8/10 | Est. £2,000 to £6,000/mo | Integrated B2B campaigns | Southend-on-Sea |
| 5 | FLSC | 7.2 | 8/10 | £20 to £200 per appointment£15 to £100/hr, published | Financial services, B2B and B2C | Swindon |
| 6 | Paragon Sales Solutions | 7.1 | 7/10 | From ~£1,800/mo per caller | SME B2B | Derby |
| 7 | durhamlane | 6.9 | 8/10 | Est. £5,000 to £12,000/mo | Complex, high-value B2B | Newcastle |
| 8 | Cape Solutions UK | 6.9 | 6/10 | £1,500 setup + £1,200 to £1,600/moPublished | Dedicated offshore caller | UK managed |
| 9 | Excelerate360 | 6.6 | 7/10 | Est. from £4,000/mo | Technology, multilingual | UK & Europe |
| 10 | Pearl Lemon Leads | 6.4 | 6/10 | Est. £1,000 to £3,000/mo | Lean multichannel | London |
| 11 | Chord UK | 6.2 | 7/10 | Est. £2,000 to £6,000/mo | Membership and retention | United Kingdom |
Declared interest, and why The Lead Gen Company is not in the table
The Lead Gen Company is my company. It does not sell telemarketing, so it is not scored. It runs paid search and paid social, which is a different proposition entirely: capturing people who are already looking rather than interrupting people who are not. Where search demand exists, that is usually cheaper and carries none of the regulatory exposure described below. Where it does not exist, the phone remains one of the few channels that still reaches a decision-maker reliably, and a supplier from this list will serve you better than I would.
04 / The elevenReviewed one by one
Same seven bars throughout. Where scores tie, the higher compliance score ranks first.
The Lead Generation Company
Best overall for UK B2B telemarketing
What it is. A UK telemarketing and appointment-setting agency with offices in Glasgow, Manchester and London, calling into procurement, finance, IT and the C-suite. The differentiator is the calling team: experienced B2B people rather than a scripted contact centre. Around two thirds of revenue comes from UK clients.
Why it tops the list. Caller quality and compliance both score 9, and in this market those two things travel together. Callers experienced enough to hold a senior conversation keep average call duration up, which is exactly what keeps a CLI off the carrier blocking lists described in section 07. Cheap scripted calling produces short calls, low answer rates and blocked numbers.
Pricing. Quote based. The UK benchmark for specialist B2B telemarketing is roughly £300 to £350 per calling day, against £150 to £250 for volume contact centres. Per-appointment pricing across UK telemarketing firms runs £150 to £600 depending on seniority, and retainers £2,500 to £12,000 a month for one to three full-time equivalents.
Strengths
- Experienced UK callers rather than offshore scripted teams
- Day rate makes cost per conversation easy to audit
- Strong compliance posture for both B2B and regulated work
- Longer, better calls protect your number from carrier blocking
Considerations
- No published prices, so get at least two competing quotes
- Day rates mean you carry the risk if data or proposition is weak
- Contact rates with younger software buyers have fallen sharply
- Confirm who supplies and screens the calling data
Air Marketing Group
Best for flexible capacity and multilingual work
What it is. An Exeter-based outsourced sales agency operating in the UK since 2016, offering outsourced SDRs, appointment setting, multilingual telemarketing and inside sales, plus HubSpot RevOps work. The proposition is adaptability rather than a single methodology.
Who it works for. Companies needing calling capacity rather than a permanent function: covering a launch, bridging a recruitment gap, or testing a European market where you need native-language callers. Contract flexibility scores 9, the highest here, and sector breadth 8, which matters when your proposition does not fit a specialist's niche.
Pricing. Not published. Comparable UK outsourced calling engagements run roughly £2,500 to £8,000 a month depending on whether you buy part or all of a resource. A partial resource, meaning a caller spending 40% to 60% of their week on your account, is common at the lower end and worth confirming explicitly.
Strengths
- Highest contract flexibility of any supplier here
- Multilingual capability for European campaigns
- Broad sector experience rather than a single niche
- Digital and RevOps support alongside the calling
Considerations
- No published pricing
- Caller quality is good rather than exceptional
- Shared resource at lower price points, so confirm the split
- Less specialist depth than a sector-focused firm
MarketMakers
Best for volume against a large market
What it is. One of the UK's larger outbound sales development firms, running high-volume B2B telemarketing and appointment setting for organisations that need capacity without building it. Part of a larger group, which brings the process maturity that volume dialling requires.
Why compliance scores 9. Scale forces discipline. An operation running thousands of dials a day across multiple campaigns cannot survive on informal processes, because the abandoned-call and screening obligations compound with volume. Established quality and compliance frameworks are the reason to buy from a large provider rather than a small one when the campaign is big.
Pricing. Quote based. UK retainers for one to three full-time equivalents plus campaign management typically fall between £2,500 and £12,000 a month, with £500 to £3,000 of setup for data, scripts, CRM integration and training.
Strengths
- Real scale for programmes needing several callers
- Mature compliance and quality frameworks
- Strong reporting and call recording access
- Removes recruitment, ramp and attrition risk
Considerations
- Longer minimum terms than smaller agencies
- Volume models burn through a small addressable market
- Caller quality is consistent rather than senior
- Insist on listening to recorded calls, not reading summaries
Beanstalk Marketing
Best for integrated mid-market campaigns
What it is. An Essex agency helping UK businesses win customers since 2009, Investors in People accredited, built on integrated B2B telemarketing campaigns that combine calling with email rather than running them as separate workstreams.
Who it works for. Mid-market UK B2B firms wanting a campaign run properly rather than a body on a phone. The integrated approach has a compliance benefit worth noting: warming a contact by email before calling raises answer rates, and higher answer rates keep your connect ratio in the range that carriers treat as legitimate.
Pricing. Not published. Comparable UK integrated telemarketing campaigns run roughly £2,000 to £6,000 a month depending on caller allocation and channel mix. Ask specifically how much of a caller's week your campaign receives.
Strengths
- Long operating history and formal quality accreditation
- Calling and email run as one campaign
- Good caller quality for mid-market propositions
- Suits firms wanting managed campaigns not raw headcount
Considerations
- No published pricing
- Smaller scale than the largest UK providers
- Reporting depth is average for the group
- Confirm how caller time is split across clients
FLSC
Most transparent on price, strong in financial services
What it is. A Swindon telemarketing firm covering financial services alongside general B2B and B2C calling, with a UK-based team. It is one of very few suppliers in this market publishing real price ranges rather than requiring a discovery call.
Why transparency scores 8. It publishes pay-per-appointment pricing of roughly £20 to £200 depending on industry and complexity, and hourly rates of £15 to £100 depending on expertise. Those are wide bands, but they are real numbers you can take into a negotiation, which is more than nine of the eleven suppliers here offer.
The B2C consideration. Consumer calling is where ICO enforcement concentrates, and where TPS screening obligations bite hardest. If you are buying B2C telemarketing, the compliance questions in section 08 are not optional diligence, they are the diligence.
Strengths
- Publishes real price ranges without a sales call
- Financial services experience in a regulated setting
- Handles both B2B and B2C rather than one only
- UK-based calling team
Considerations
- Published bands are wide, so the quote still varies a lot
- Reporting depth is lighter than the larger providers
- B2C work carries materially higher regulatory exposure
- Smaller operation than the volume providers
Paragon Sales Solutions
Best entry point for SMEs
What it is. A Derby sales agency running telemarketing alongside SEO, paid ads, social and email, founded in 2018 with several thousand campaigns delivered. It serves the segment most UK lists skip: firms turning over £500,000 to £5m that need calling but cannot justify a £5,000 retainer.
Who it works for. Owner-managed UK businesses making a first move into outsourced calling, and firms wanting calling and digital handled by one supplier. Cost efficiency scores 8, the second highest here, which is the main argument for it.
Pricing. Reported from around £1,800 a month per caller, among the lowest genuine entry points in this guide. Comparable UK SME telemarketing engagements run £1,000 to £3,000 a month for part-time caller resource.
Strengths
- Realistic entry point for smaller UK businesses
- Strong cost efficiency at the lower end of the market
- Calling and digital available from one supplier
- Shorter commitments than the enterprise providers
Considerations
- Compliance processes are less formalised than the scale providers
- Reporting is basic
- Limited strategic depth on messaging and targeting
- Ask specifically about TPS and CTPS screening cadence
durhamlane
Best for complex, high-value conversations
What it is. A Newcastle sales development specialist that has done nothing but outbound for complex B2B cycles for over a decade, working with names including Siemens Healthineers, Konica Minolta and ABB. Every lead passes a 35-point qualification before handover.
Why it ranks lower here than on other criteria. Caller quality scores 9, the joint highest, and the qualification standard is the best in the market. But this guide weights cost efficiency and transparency, and durhamlane is expensive and publishes nothing. If your deal values justify it, ignore the rank and read the caller quality score.
Pricing. Not published. Comparable UK consultative calling programmes run roughly £5,000 to £12,000 a month, reflecting senior talent rather than volume headcount.
Strengths
- Joint-best caller quality in this guide
- Auditable 35-point qualification standard
- Strong reporting and call review discipline
- Genuine enterprise references in technical sectors
Considerations
- Highest cost per conversation here
- No published pricing and longer minimum terms
- Volume will look low against a rival quoting dial counts
- Wrong model entirely for transactional propositions
Cape Solutions UK
Best published pricing, offshore delivery
What it is. A dedicated caller assigned to your business, working your accounts, messaging, CRM and dialler, aligned to UK working hours but employed and based in South Africa. You buy a seat rather than campaign output.
Why transparency scores 10. It publishes the entire price: a one-off £1,500 setup per seat and an all-inclusive monthly fee of £1,200 to £1,600 covering recruitment, salary, HR, payroll, equipment and managed workspace. That is £15,900 to £20,700 in year one and £14,400 to £19,200 thereafter. Nobody else here publishes a comparable figure.
The honest caveat. Compliance scores 6, not because the supplier is careless but because offshore delivery adds a layer between you and the regulator. If the calls are made on your behalf into the UK, the PECR obligations are still yours, and you need to see the screening process rather than assume it. Caller quality also scores 6: fine for straightforward propositions to owner-managed businesses, harder for senior UK enterprise conversations.
Strengths
- Full pricing published, including setup and inclusions
- Materially lower cost per calling hour than UK delivery
- The caller works inside your CRM, dialler and diary
- Seat model gives continuity that campaign models do not
Considerations
- Offshore delivery is a weaker fit for senior UK buyers
- You must verify the TPS and CTPS screening process yourself
- Ramp period before a new caller is productive
- Check what data, dialler and CRM licences you must supply
Excelerate360
Best for multilingual technology campaigns
What it is. A sales outsourcing firm serving B2B software and technology companies across the UK, Europe and North America, with a network of over eighty sales associates covering cyber security, ecommerce, martech, fintech and digital transformation. It works across the whole cycle rather than stopping at the call.
Who it works for. Technology vendors entering a new territory who need native-language callers with existing sector networks. Caller quality scores 8 on the strength of that sector fluency, which is worth more on a technical cold call than any script.
Pricing. Not fully published. Clutch lists a minimum project size above roughly £3,900 and an average hourly rate of about £39 to £77, implying monthly engagements from around £4,000 depending on resource.
Strengths
- Genuine multilingual coverage for European campaigns
- Sector networks in specific technology verticals
- Whole-cycle capability beyond the call itself
- Strong reported communication and reporting
Considerations
- Higher cost per conversation than volume providers
- Pricing only partially disclosed via third-party directories
- Longer engagements rather than short flexible tests
- Better suited to technology than general B2B
Pearl Lemon Leads
Cheapest way to test outbound calling
What it is. A London agency running multichannel outbound across phone, email and LinkedIn, working month to month and generally willing to take smaller budgets than most agencies on any comparable list.
Who it works for. Small B2B firms wanting to find out whether outbound calling works for them before committing. Contract flexibility scores 9, joint highest, and that is the real product: you can stop after sixty days having spent low four figures.
Pricing. Not published, typically quoted at £1,000 to £3,000 a month on a rolling basis. Calling is one channel among several rather than the core discipline, which is reflected in the caller quality and compliance scores.
Strengths
- Month-to-month terms keep the downside knowable
- Lowest realistic entry among the agencies here
- Fast deployment, often within a fortnight
- Phone, email and LinkedIn run together
Considerations
- Calling is not the core discipline
- Weakest reporting depth in this guide
- Audit the data sourcing and screening carefully
- Not built for volume or regulated campaigns
Chord UK
Best for retention and membership calling
What it is. A UK agency blending new business appointment setting with customer retention and membership marketing programmes. That dual focus is unusual and useful for organisations that need to grow while holding on to an existing base.
Who it works for. Membership bodies, subscription businesses and service firms where the calling job is as much about keeping customers as winning them. Retention calling also carries a lower compliance burden than cold outreach, because you are contacting people with an existing relationship and, usually, a lawful basis already in place.
Pricing. Not published, and transparency scores 4 as a result. Comparable UK campaigns run roughly £2,000 to £6,000 a month. Ask for the split between new business and retention resource, since the two require different caller skills.
Strengths
- Rare combination of acquisition and retention calling
- Retention work carries lower regulatory exposure
- Useful for membership and subscription models
- UK-based delivery
Considerations
- No published pricing at all
- Narrower new-business track record than specialists
- Reporting and sector breadth are average
- Smaller operation than the volume providers
Not sure whether calling is the right channel at all?
Tell me what you sell and who buys it. You get an honest answer, including when capturing existing search demand would be cheaper and carry none of this regulatory exposure.
05 / MoneyWhat UK telemarketing costs
Four pricing models, and the day rate is the only one that lets you calculate your own cost per conversation rather than accepting the supplier's.
| Model | Typical UK price | You are buying | Risk sits with | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist day rate | £300 to £350 per calling day | Senior caller time | You | Complex propositions into senior roles |
| Volume contact centre day rate | £150 to £250 per day | Caller time at scale | You | Simple propositions, large lists |
| Hourly | £15 to £100/hrPublished range by at least one supplier | Time in smaller blocks | You | Short tests and variable volume |
| Per appointment | £20 to £200£150 to £600 for senior B2B | An agreed output | Supplier | Proven offer, narrow audience |
| Monthly retainer | £1,800 to £12,000/mo | A managed campaign | You | Ongoing programmes needing management |
| Dedicated seat | £1,200 to £1,600/mo + setupPublished | A named caller | Shared | Continuous calling on a tighter budget |
06 / New analysisThe 3% rule that was never a rule
In 2010 Ofcom stated that organisations should keep their abandoned call rate below 3% of live calls. The industry read that as a safe harbour: stay under 3% and you are compliant. Ofcom has since clarified that this was a misinterpretation. The 3% figure was a measuring stick, and the actual target is zero. You can attract regulatory scrutiny at any abandoned rate above nothing.
Plenty of suppliers, and even some dialler vendors, still market 3% as compliant. If a prospective telemarketing partner tells you they run to the 3% rule, they are quoting guidance that was withdrawn, which tells you how current the rest of their compliance thinking is.
The formula, and how it gets gamed
Drop rate = Drops ÷ (Drops + Connects)
Some systems quietly add inbound and manually dialled connects into the denominator, which mathematically shrinks the reported rate without changing a single consumer's experience. On 30 drops against 970 predictive connects the real rate is 3.00%. Fold in 2,000 inbound and manual connects and the same operation reports 1.00%. Ask any supplier which formula their dialler uses and whether inbound is included. It is a short question with a very revealing answer.
The other Ofcom dialling rules a buyer should know exist, because a breach is your reputational problem as much as the supplier's:
| Rule | What it requires | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| 15 second minimum ring | Let the phone ring at least 15 seconds before disconnecting | Introduced to stop "pinging" for live numbers, a practice that generates complaints against your brand |
| Abandoned call message | A recorded message within 2 seconds identifying the company, with a free or basic-rate return number | Whose company name is in that message, yours or the agency's |
| Two second CPA | Answering machine detection has 2 seconds to decide, then the call must pass to an agent | Systems that hold longer are non-compliant, which is why some vendors just tell you to switch detection off |
| 72 hour recall rule | No automated recall to a dropped call within 72 hours, or to an answer machine the same day | Suppliers under volume pressure are tempted to ignore this |
| CLI presentation | A valid, returnable number must be presented, and automatic number rotation is no longer permitted | Rotation used to hide complaint volume across many numbers, and carriers ended it |
07 / New analysisThe carrier blocking risk nobody prices in
This is the commercial risk that appears in no telemarketing proposal and can end a campaign overnight.
The mobile and fixed networks that your prospects sit on, meaning EE, Vodafone, BT and O2 rather than the carrier your agency dials through, can block your number automatically if their systems judge you to be a nuisance caller. They share a database, so one network blocking you can lead to others following. There is no formal appeals process. The only practical remedy is to change the number and start again.
Two things follow from this, and both should change how you buy.
Cheap calling is expensive. A low-cost operation running big lists with weak targeting produces exactly the pattern that triggers blocking: low answer rates and short calls. The saving on the day rate is recovered by the network, not by you. This is the strongest practical argument for the more expensive suppliers near the top of this guide, and it is an argument about arithmetic rather than quality.
Whose number gets burned matters. If the agency presents its own CLI, a block is their problem and they move to a new number. If it presents yours, which is common when clients want return calls routed to their own switchboard, the block is yours and it can affect your legitimate business calls. Ask which number is presented, and what the plan is if it gets blocked.
What changed in January 2025
Ofcom's updated CLI guidance took effect on 29 January 2025, requiring calls entering the UK that present a UK number as a presentation number to be blocked, with limited exceptions such as genuine roaming. A further consultation published in July 2025 proposed extending blocking to overseas calls spoofing UK mobile numbers. For legitimate UK campaigns the direct effect is small, but the indirect effect is not: consumer trust in unknown numbers is low, carriers are more willing to block, and the bar for what an algorithm considers legitimate dialling keeps rising.
08 / New analysisTwo regulators, two sets of fines
Telemarketing is the only channel in this market policed by two bodies simultaneously, and they police different things. Buyers who do diligence usually check one.
| Ofcom | ICO | |
|---|---|---|
| Governs | How you dial | Who you call and with what consent |
| Covers | Abandoned and silent calls, ring time, AMD, CLI presentation, recall rules | TPS and CTPS screening, consent records, automated calls, marketing content |
| Maximum penalty | £2m | £17.5m or 4% of global turnover |
| Personal liability | Corporate | Directors can be fined personally |
| Typical trigger | Complaint volume against a CLI | A complaint, then a request for consent evidence you cannot produce |
The ICO ceiling changed on 5 February 2026, when provisions of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 brought PECR penalties into line with UK GDPR. The maximum moved from £500,000 to £17.5m or 4% of global annual turnover, a thirty-five fold increase. Director-level liability has existed since 2018, introduced specifically to stop firms dissolving and restarting under a new name.
Enforcement is real and continuing. In September 2025 the ICO fined Home Improvement Marketing Ltd for instigating more than 2.4 million automated marketing calls without prior consent. The pattern across recent years is fewer organisations fined, at higher individual values, with contact centres over-represented.
Six screening questions to put in writing
- Do you screen against both TPS and CTPS, and how often?
- Is screening done at the point of the call, or at the point the data was acquired?
- Can you produce screening logs for our campaign on request?
- Where consent is relied on instead of screening, can you show us the exact wording the person saw?
- Whose CLI is presented, and what happens if it is blocked?
- Will you indemnify us against regulatory penalties arising from data you sourced or screening you performed?
On question two: the ICO standard is re-screening at least every 28 days while a list is still being called, which is thirteen screenings a year rather than twelve. On question one, screening a B2B list against TPS alone leaves every CTPS-registered number in it, and B2B carries the same penalty regime.
09 / New analysisCost per conversation, the only unit that compares
Day rates are not comparable across suppliers because a day contains different amounts of work. Dials are not comparable either, because most produce nothing. The unit that compares is a real conversation with the right person.
UK B2B connect rates typically run 5% to 10%, and roughly 60% of connects are a genuine conversation rather than a gatekeeper, wrong number or "in a meeting". That gives you the arithmetic:
| Supplier type | Day rate | Dials/day | Connect rate | Real conversations | Cost per conversation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist B2B | £325 | 120 | 8% | 5.8 | £56 |
| Specialist B2B | £325 | 150 | 5% | 4.5 | £72 |
| Volume contact centre | £200 | 120 | 8% | 5.8 | £35 |
| Volume contact centre | £200 | 150 | 5% | 4.5 | £44 |
On this measure alone the volume centre wins, and that is exactly the trap. The specialist reaches a director and holds a five-minute conversation. The volume centre reaches an office manager and is off the phone in ninety seconds. Same unit, entirely different asset, and the short calls are also what attracts carrier blocking.
The version worth calculating
Run the same maths, but divide by conversations with the job title you actually sell to. In most B2B campaigns the specialist reaches the right person on a substantially higher share of conversations, and once you filter for that the cost gap narrows or reverses. Ask any supplier to report conversations by seniority reached, not just by count. Refusal to break that down is itself the answer.
10 / Ask theseTen questions before you commit
- What abandoned call rate do you run to, and what formula does your dialler use? Anyone answering "under 3%" is quoting withdrawn guidance.
- Does your drop rate calculation include inbound or manually dialled connects? It should not.
- Do you screen against both TPS and CTPS, and how often? At least every 28 days while the list is live.
- Whose CLI is presented on our campaign? And what is the plan if it gets blocked.
- What is your average call duration across live campaigns? Under 30 seconds is a blocking risk.
- Can we listen to recordings, or only read summaries? Recordings, weekly, without asking.
- Who supplies the data, and can I see the consent wording? Not a reassurance, the wording.
- Will you indemnify us for penalties arising from your data or screening? Confidence in sourcing shows up here.
- How much of a caller's week do we actually get? Especially below £3,000 a month.
- What is the notice period, and does the contract auto-renew? Push for 30 days and no automatic re-commitment.
11 / QuestionsWhat buyers ask before signing
How much do telemarketing companies charge in the UK?
Specialist B2B telemarketing runs £300 to £350 per calling day, against £150 to £250 for volume contact centres. Hourly rates run £15 to £100 depending on expertise. Pay per appointment runs £20 to £200 for general work and £150 to £600 for senior B2B. Monthly retainers run £1,800 to £12,000, and a dedicated offshore caller seat has been published at £1,500 setup plus £1,200 to £1,600 a month. Compare on cost per real conversation, not day rate.
Which is the best telemarketing company in the UK?
On the seven criteria used here, The Lead Generation Company scores highest at 7.8 out of 10, on experienced UK callers into senior roles, auditable day-rate pricing and strong compliance discipline. Air Marketing Group scores 7.4 for flexible and multilingual capacity, MarketMakers 7.3 for high volume, and FLSC 7.2 as the most transparent on price. The right pick depends on whether your proposition needs a senior conversation or a large number of simple ones.
Is the 3% abandoned call rate still the rule?
No. Ofcom set out in 2010 that abandoned calls should be under 3% of live calls, and the industry treated that as a safe harbour. Ofcom has since clarified that 3% was a measuring stick and the actual target is zero, so scrutiny is possible at any rate above nothing. The correct formula is drops divided by drops plus connects. Some systems inflate the denominator with inbound and manual connects, which shrinks the reported figure without changing anything a consumer experiences.
Can mobile networks block my telemarketing number?
Yes. EE, Vodafone, BT and O2 block numbers automatically where their systems judge nuisance calling, based mainly on low answer rates and short average call durations, with under 30 seconds treated as a warning sign. They share a nuisance-caller database, so a block by one can lead to others. There is no formal appeals process and the practical remedy is a new number. Ask your supplier whose number is presented on your campaign and what happens if it is blocked.
Do I need to screen B2B numbers against TPS?
You need to screen against CTPS, the corporate equivalent, which covers limited companies, PLCs, LLPs, Scottish partnerships, government bodies, schools, colleges and charities that have registered an objection. B2B is not exempt from PECR and carries the same maximum penalty of £17.5m or 4% of global turnover. Two mistakes recur: assuming B2B is outside the rules, and screening a B2B list against TPS only, which leaves every CTPS-registered number in place.
How much can a telemarketing breach cost?
Ofcom can fine up to £2m for abandoned and silent calls. Separately, the ICO can fine up to £17.5m or 4% of global annual turnover for PECR breaches such as calling TPS-registered numbers without consent, following changes that took effect on 5 February 2026 and raised the previous £500,000 cap thirty-five fold. Directors can be fined personally, a power introduced in 2018 to stop firms dissolving and restarting. In September 2025 the ICO fined one company over more than 2.4 million automated calls made without consent.
What is a realistic connect rate for UK B2B calling?
Typically 5% to 10% of dials reach a live person, and roughly 60% of those are a genuine conversation rather than a gatekeeper or a wrong number. On 120 dials a day at an 8% connect rate that is around six real conversations, which at a £325 day rate is about £56 each. Ask suppliers to report conversations by seniority reached rather than by raw count, because a conversation with the wrong person is not a cheaper version of the right one.
Is telemarketing still worth it in 2026?
For B2B propositions that need explaining, yes, and increasingly so relative to email. Bulk sender rules introduced by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have made volume cold email materially harder, while the phone remains a channel no inbox provider can throttle. The trade-off is regulatory exposure and falling contact rates in some segments, particularly younger software buyers. For consumer selling, treat it with real caution: B2C is where enforcement concentrates.
Should I use an offshore telemarketing team?
Offshore delivery costs materially less, with published dedicated-seat pricing from £1,200 to £1,600 a month against UK retainers several times that, and it works for straightforward propositions sold to owner-managed businesses. Two cautions. Senior UK buyers respond less well on a cold call, and shorter calls raise your carrier blocking risk. The PECR obligations also remain yours regardless of where the caller sits, so you need to see the screening process rather than assume it.
12 / TransparencyMethod, limitations and sources
How this guide was built
Suppliers were selected from firms where outbound calling is a core discipline rather than one channel among several, filtered to those with genuine UK delivery or UK-managed delivery. Each was scored against the seven weighted criteria in section 02, using published pricing where available and sector day-rate benchmarks, directory bands and third-party procurement data where not. Ties are broken by compliance score.
Limitations worth stating. Scores are my judgement, informed by fifteen years of buying and selling paid acquisition, not the output of a controlled study, and I have not run a campaign with every supplier here. Compliance scores reflect publicly observable posture, accreditation, scale and sector focus rather than an audit of any supplier's dialler configuration, which no outsider can perform. Treat them as a starting point for your own diligence using the questions in sections 08 and 10, not as a substitute for it. Prices for firms that do not publish are estimates and will move with scope and negotiation.
Corrections. If you work at one of these companies and a figure is wrong, send the correct number and the page it is published on, and this guide will be updated with the change noted.
Sources
- Ofcom, statement of policy on persistent misuse of an electronic communications network
- Ofcom, abandoned and silent calls guidance and £2m maximum penalty
- Ofcom, updated CLI guidance effective 29 January 2025
- Ofcom, consultation on tackling scam calls from abroad, July 2025
- Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, PECR penalty provisions in force 5 February 2026
- ICO, guide to PECR: electronic and telephone marketing
- ICO enforcement action, Home Improvement Marketing Ltd, September 2025
- Telephone Preference Service and Corporate Telephone Preference Service registers
- MaxContact, UK contact centre regulatory guidance on Ofcom and PECR
- FLSC, published appointment and hourly pricing ranges
- Cape Solutions UK, published dedicated-seat pricing
- Clutch and Beanstalk, UK telemarketing day rate and per-appointment benchmarks
- Gong and Cognism cold calling connect and conversion datasets
- The Lead Generation Company, UK telemarketing market overview
Want a second opinion on a quote you have been given?
Send the numbers and I will run them through the cost-per-conversation maths on this page, including when the honest answer is that calling is the wrong channel for you.
Related reading: the best appointment setting companies covers suppliers who deliver diary slots rather than conversations, the best B2B lead generation companies covers the wider B2B market, and lead generation companies for small business covers smaller budgets. If your buyers already search for what you sell, PPC lead generation reaches them without a cold call.