Cost comparison · DACH mid-market

What does a meeting really cost?

In the DACH mid-market, what matters is not a tool's list price but the true cost-per-meeting: license + fully loaded SDR cost + research + personalization. We ran the four common setups against an autonomous SXM stack.

Market median
~350€
SXM customers
75–125€
Reduction
up to −80%
Stack comparison

Four setups, one KPI: cost-per-meeting.

We map everything to the same output: ~20 qualified first conversations per month in DACH. Licenses, fully loaded SDR cost (4,500–6,000 € gross, ~7,000 € fully loaded) and working time are all included. Tool prices are list prices (as of Q2 2026).

Dealfront + manual SDR
DACH sales intelligence · classic outbound
  • Dealfront: ~150 €/month (sales intelligence module)
  • Fully loaded SDR cost: ~7,000 €/month
  • Working time: ~4 h/day for research, list building, personalization, sending
  • Output: ~20 meetings/month
Total / month ~7,150 €
per meeting ~360 €
Apollo + manual SDR
US-heavy data · DACH validation required
  • Apollo Pro: ~80 €/user
  • Fully loaded SDR cost: ~7,000 €/month
  • Drag factor: US-heavy data → more time for DACH validation
  • Output: ~20 meetings/month
Total / month ~7,080 €
per meeting ~350 €
Cognism + Lemlist + SDR
Premium data + multichannel sequencer
  • Cognism: ~1,400 €/month (calculated solo)
  • Lemlist multichannel: ~80 €/month
  • Fully loaded SDR cost: ~7,000 €/month
  • Output: ~20 meetings/month
Total / month ~8,500 €
per meeting ~425 €
SalesXMachina (autonomous)
18,000+ German sources · approval instead of research
  • Software: 500–1,500 €/month (depending on tier)
  • Working time: ~30 min/day for approval/QA = ~10 h/month
  • No dedicated SDR needed — or 1 SDR delivers 3× the output
  • Output: ~20 qualified meetings/month
Total / month 1,500–2,500 €
per meeting 75–125 €
Cost-per-meeting in a direct comparison
Cognism + Lemlist
425 €
425 €
Dealfront + SDR
360 €
360 €
Apollo + SDR
350 €
350 €
SalesXMachina
75–125 €
~100 €
Assumption: 20 qualified first conversations/month in DACH. Fully loaded SDR cost = salary + employer contributions + tooling share + onboarding amortization. Tool prices per vendor list price (Q2 2026), Cognism normalized to a solo seat. SXM range = Starter to Pro tier including ~10 h of approval/QA per month.
Co-Creation

Three showcase customers. Measurable numbers.

We turn 2–3 DACH mid-market companies into co-creation partners, not for a logo but for a story with numbers the market understands. Cost-per-meeting is the currency. What these three customers paid before SXM, what they pay today, and what happened in between.

·Co-creation customer
Industrial components
Machine builder · Baden-Württemberg · 80 employees
"Cost-per-meeting from 380 € to 95 €, with the same pipeline quality."
Before: a Dealfront license + 1 SDR + a working student for research. After 90 days with SXM: the SDR focuses on demos, the working student is gone, and the pipeline is 22% larger.
before
380 €/mtg
after
95 €/mtg
·Co-creation customer
B2B SaaS Munich
Vertical software · 14 employees · 2 sales people
"From 350 € to 70 € per meeting, without a single additional FTE."
Co-founder + junior AE, no budget for another SDR. SXM scans 24/7 for trigger signals and delivers the accounts every morning with context and a suggested message. The team approves and runs the conversations.
before
350 €/mtg
after
70 €/mtg
·Co-creation customer
Decide
Strategy consultancy · DACH · no in-house SDRs
"+50% connection requests, at 0 € SDR cost."
Decide never built an in-house sales team. SXM handles outbound, timing and first contact. 800 leads contacted, +50% more connection requests, without a single SDR FTE.
SDR cost
0 €
requests
+50%
The next step

Run the numbers on your cost-per-meeting.

10 minutes of setup, one night of signals, one clear before-and-after comparison. We show you on your own pipeline data what actually pays off.

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