Should you pay an agency retainer or per held meeting?

What does an agency retainer cost?

One agency's 2026 pricing guide puts monthly retainers at $3,000 to $15,000+, per-meeting fees at $250 to $1,500+, and hybrid models that combine a retainer with a fee per meeting (OutboundPros, August 2026). The same guide tells buyers who choose a retainer to expect a 60- to 90-day ramp.

These are one agency's ranges, not a market survey. Ask every agency you talk to for its own terms in writing, and ask what counts as a meeting.

A retainer pays for a team's time. In the guide's list, that covers ICP and segmentation work, data sourcing, copywriting, sending setup and deliverability monitoring, testing and reporting. You pay for that time in a month with no meetings too.

What does Dylan cost instead?

Dylan does the email part of that work himself and bills only for held meetings, at a price set by who you want to meet:

• Lite: $250 per held meeting. Small companies, founder-led buyers, 1 to 200 employees. Deposit $750.
• Standard: $500 per held meeting. Mid-market, directors and VPs, 201 to 1,000 employees. Deposit $1,500.
• Enterprise: from $900 per held meeting, quoted. VP and C-level, 1,000+ employees. Deposit: three meetings.

The deposit is credit for your first meetings. No meeting in 60 days? Your deposit comes back. The prices are for the beta; the full terms are on the pricing page.

When is an agency the better choice?

• You need more channels than email. Agencies often run LinkedIn and calls as well. Dylan works by email today.
• Your market is tiny or your offer needs explaining. In the guide's words, per-meeting pricing "works worst when your ICP is tiny, your offer needs education, or your sales cycle is highly consultative." There, a retainer can be the honest deal.
• You want an outbound team, not a meeting supplier. The guide says retainers make sense "when you want a team acting like an outsourced outbound function rather than a meeting vendor."
• Most of your buyers are outside the US. Dylan writes to US targets first.

When is Dylan the better choice?

• You would rather pay for meetings than for months. Dylan bills per held meeting, and you have 72 hours to dispute any meeting. Never billed: meetings outside your definition, no-shows, companies on your do-not-contact list.
• You want the deposit back if nothing happens. If no meeting is held in 60 days, the deposit comes back.
• You want your own domain kept out of it. The guide tells buyers to ask who owns inbox setup, domains and deliverability. With Dylan, his own warm domains send, and yours never sends a cold email.
• You want to approve before anything is sent. Dylan sends nothing until you approve the plan and the first emails.

Where does Belkins fit?

Belkins, the B2B lead generation agency behind Dylan, runs outbound with people across email, LinkedIn and cold calling (belkins.io). Dylan is Belkins' AI agent.

• If you want a team of people and more channels, talk to Belkins.
• If you want held meetings by email, billed per meeting, brief Dylan.
• If you want Dylan and your buyers answer the phone, ask about adding Belkins callers to your plan.

More on how the two work together on Dylan's trusted partners page. Why a held meeting is the unit: why Dylan charges per held meeting.