What deal size should we target to justify this investment?

Cormac Repman
4 minutes ago
3 min read

The quick answer: Target deals generating at least $30,000 in lifetime value. If you're paying $1,000 per qualified meeting and your close rate is 1 in 4 conversations, that's $30,000 in revenue from one qualified opportunity. That math justifies the investment immediately.

But let's dig into why this matters and how to think about it for your specific business.

How We Arrived at the $30,000 Threshold

We looked at what works across hundreds of outbound campaigns. Companies targeting deals below $30,000 LTV typically struggle to achieve positive ROI within their first 30 to 60 days. The sales cycle is too short or the deal size too small to absorb the cost per meeting. Companies targeting $30,000 and above see consistent ROI within 60 to 90 days, even with modest conversion rates.

This assumes you're closing roughly 1 out of every 4 qualified meetings. If your conversion is better, you can go lower. If it's worse, you'll need higher deal sizes to justify the spend.

What Does $30,000 Lifetime Value Mean?

Lifetime value isn't always the first deal. It's the total revenue you expect from a customer over the relationship. That might be a single $50,000 contract, or it might be a $10,000 first deal with expected upsells over time that total $30,000 or more.

If you're selling annual contracts at $30,000 per year with customers who typically stay for two years, that's $60,000 LTV. If you're in SaaS and customers stick around, even a smaller annual contract can represent significant lifetime value once you factor in multiple years.

The Math Breaks Down Like This

You pay us $1,000 per qualified meeting that shows up and engages. Let's say your close rate is 25% (1 in 4). That means you need 4 meetings to close one deal.

4 meetings × $1,000 per meeting = $4,000 cost per deal closed.

If your average deal is $30,000 LTV, your cost of acquisition is roughly 13% of deal value. That's a healthy CAC ratio for most B2B businesses.

If your deals average $50,000, your CAC drops to 8%. If they average $60,000, it's just 7%.

Compare that to what you're probably paying for ads, hiring internal SDRs, or using other outbound services. Most companies find this favorable.

What About Smaller Deals?

We absolutely work with companies targeting $15,000 to $25,000 deals. But you'll need either a higher close rate (1 in 3 instead of 1 in 4) or you'll need to accept that your payback period is longer and your margin is tighter. That can still work if your close rate is strong or if you have longer customer lifespans.

The point isn't that smaller deals are impossible. It's that they require more certainty elsewhere in your funnel.

How Close Rate Affects the Equation

Close rate is everything. If you're closing 1 in 3 meetings instead of 1 in 4, you can justify lower deal sizes. A $20,000 deal with a 33% close rate gives you the same CAC as a $30,000 deal with a 25% close rate.

The unknown here is your close rate, and that's something we help you discover early. If you're new to outbound, your first 10 or 20 meetings will tell us a lot about whether your positioning and product fit are resonating.

Getting Clear on Your Number

Before we start, we recommend you nail down three things: your realistic close rate, your deal size, and how many meetings per month you want. Plug those into the $1,000 per meeting cost, and you'll know within days whether you're seeing positive traction.

Ready to run the numbers for your business? Let's talk.