Case Study: How a US SaaS Company Scaled Sales with Indian SDRs
In early 2024, a California-based SaaS firm realized they had a consistent product — but an inconsistent pipeline.
Their AEs were wearing too many hats: researching leads, sending cold emails, booking calls, and closing. It was working — but barely. They weren’t scaling. And every month, they were playing catch-up with sales targets.
Here’s how they fixed it by outsourcing SDR operations to India — and what happened next.
The Challenge: No Time to Prospect, No Time to Grow
The product was strong: a subscription-based B2B SaaS platform for HR teams. Average deal size: $8K–$12K. Sales cycle: 45 days.
But the top-of-funnel was shaky. AE calendars weren’t consistently full. They had a part-time BDR in-house, but it wasn’t enough.
Here were the pressure points:
- Pipeline volume was unpredictable
- Reps were spending 50% of their time on research and cold outreach
- No process for follow-ups or lead qualification
- No bandwidth to test new verticals
They considered hiring 2–3 SDRs in-house, but costs were high and ramp-up time was a risk.
The Pivot: Outsourcing SDR to a Trained Team in India
Instead of building an internal SDR team from scratch, they decided to test outsourcing.
The decision wasn’t just about cost. It was about speed.
Here’s what they did:
- Partnered with a trained Indian SDR team with US market experience
- Started with a 3-person pod focused on two key verticals
- Used a blended outreach strategy: cold email + LinkedIn + follow-up calls
- Aligned SDR qualification criteria with AE expectations
- Added CRM access for full visibility into leads and performance
Within 2 weeks, the program was live.
The Results: Consistency, Scale, and More Time to Sell
Within 90 days, the outsourced team had booked 142 meetings. Show rates were strong — around 64% — and most meetings were with decision-makers or influencers.
From those meetings:
- 31 turned into qualified pipeline
- 7 deals closed within 90 days
- Total new ARR: $84,000
The outsourced team cost less than $14K per month — which meant cost per closed deal was under $6,000, and ROI was comfortably above 4x.
But the biggest value wasn’t just the numbers — it was the time:
- AEs spent 70–80% of their day selling, not prospecting
- Marketing used SDR feedback to refine ICPs and messaging
- The exec team had visibility into real performance metrics
Why It Worked
Outsourcing worked here because it wasn’t treated like a “vendor” arrangement. It was run like a real extension of the team.
- The Indian SDRs weren’t just dialing — they understood the product, ICP, and objections
- They had access to Slack, CRM, and AE feedback
- Messaging was reviewed weekly and updated based on reply data
- Lists were refreshed regularly — no recycled leads
The India-based team didn’t just scale outbound — they added structure to it.
Takeaways for B2B Companies
If you’re relying on AEs to build their own pipeline, there’s a ceiling.
If you’re hesitating to hire SDRs because of cost or churn, there’s another way.
Outsourced SDRs — when trained well and integrated properly — can give you both scale and predictability.
