[Compare](https://defrostmail.com/compare) # Defrost or hiring a salesperson? Facts checked November 9, 2026 Hiring a salesperson buys you a person’s time: two sources put median on-target pay for a US sales development representative at $80,000 and $90,000 a year, before benefits, and it is due from the first day. Defrost does one part of that job, writing to new companies by email for your approval, and charges $300 only when one replies wanting to talk. A salesperson can call, go to events and win the client; Defrost brings you the reply, and the rest is yours. | | Hiring a salesperson | Defrost | | What you pay for | A person’s time: salary, commission and benefits | A new company that wants to talk: $300, once per company | | What it costs | Median on-target pay for a sales development representative: $80,000 a year (Bridge Group) or $90,000 (RepVue), with benefits on top | $300 per company, plus any tax. No subscription or setup fee. A monthly limit you set, starting at $3,000. | | When the cost starts | On the first day. A new hire takes 3.0 months on average to get up to speed (Bridge Group). | When a new company replies wanting to talk | | Who manages the work | You do: hiring, training, setting targets and checking the work | We do the work. Your part is approving each email: a few minutes, a few days a week. | | What they do | Can call, go to events, and carry a conversation through to a signed client | We write first emails and follow-ups in your name and bring you the reply. Email only. Winning the client is yours. | | If nobody replies | The salary is still due | You pay nothing | Pay figures are from The Bridge Group’s 2025 report and RepVue, read on November 9, 2026, and linked under Sources. They are for sales development representatives in the United States, the role that makes first contact with new companies. ## What does a salesperson cost? The role closest to what Defrost does is a sales development representative. Two sources publish what that role is paid in the United States. On-target pay is base salary plus the commission earned when targets are met. - The Bridge Group’s 2025 report, covering 351 B2B companies, puts median on-target pay at $80,000: $55,000 base and $25,000 variable. A new hire takes 3.0 months on average to get up to speed, and the average time in the role is 1.9 years. - RepVue, from 8,133 verified pay submissions, shows a median base of $60,000 and median on-target pay of $90,000. Pay is not the whole cost. Across all private-industry jobs, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that benefits make up 30.0% of what employers spend on compensation. Hiring, tools and your own time managing come on top. We haven’t found a reliable single figure for the total, so we don’t give one. These figures also don’t cover a senior salesperson who wins the client as well. Our guide to [the cost of hiring a salesperson](https://defrostmail.com/blog/cost-of-hiring-a-salesperson) goes further. ## When is hiring the better choice? - You can already see steady demand, and what you’re short of is hours to follow it up. - You have time to manage someone: to train them, set targets and hear how they talk about your firm. - Your market is big enough to keep one person busy all year. - You need more than first emails: phone calls, events, and someone to carry a conversation through to a signed client. Defrost does none of those. ## When is Defrost the better choice? - You’re not ready to carry a salary through the months a new hire takes to get up to speed. - You want to stay the person new clients talk to. We bring you the reply and you take it from there. - You want to approve every email that goes out in your name. - You’d rather pay only when a company wants to talk. The fee and what counts are on the [pricing page](https://defrostmail.com/pricing). ## Questions people ask ### Can Defrost replace a salesperson? Only one part of the job. Defrost finds companies that fit, writes to them by email in your name, follows up and brings you the reply. It doesn’t make phone calls, go to events, book meetings or win the client. If you need those done by someone other than you, that is a hire. An agency is a third route, compared in [Defrost or a lead generation agency?](https://defrostmail.com/compare/defrost-vs-lead-generation-agency) ### Can I start with Defrost and hire later? Yes. There is no subscription and you can stop at any time, so nothing ties you in when you decide to hire. ## Sources - [The Bridge Group, 2025 SDR Models, Metrics and Compensation report](https://www.bridgegroupinc.com/research/2025-sdr-models-metrics-report-the-bridge-group), read November 9, 2026. - [The Bridge Group, SDR tenure and ramp time](https://www.bridgegroupinc.com/research/sdr-tenure-and-ramp-time), read November 9, 2026. - [RepVue, sales development representative salaries](https://www.repvue.com/salaries/sales-development-representative), read November 9, 2026. - [US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), read November 9, 2026. - [Defrost pricing](https://defrostmail.com/pricing). ## Not sure which fits? Tell us what you do. It takes about three minutes and no card. If you’re a fit, we’ll tell you where we’d start. [Apply to Defrost](https://defrostmail.com/apply)