Glossary: pipeline measures
What is cost per meeting?
Cost per meeting is the amount you spend to get one sales meeting. You work it out by dividing the total outbound cost for a period by the number of meetings held in that period.
Formula
Worked example
$6,000 ÷ 24 = $250
Cost per meeting is total outbound cost divided by meetings held.
Both halves of the formula hide choices. Decide what counts as cost and what counts as a meeting before you compare anything.
Total cost includes people and tools.
Add salaries or agency fees, data, sending software, domains and mailboxes for the period. Leaving one out flatters the number.
Meetings held are the honest count.
Use meetings that took place. Dividing by meetings booked makes every program look cheaper than it is.
Cost per lead sits one step earlier.
Cost per lead divides the same spend by leads, such as interested replies. It is lower, and it says less about sales results.
Here is cost per meeting worked out for an invented company.
Imagine Quorndale, an invented maintenance software company. In one quarter it spends $6,000 on outbound: $4,500 on the people running it and $1,500 on data, domains, mailboxes and software. The program books 30 meetings, and 24 take place.
Per meeting held, Quorndale's cost is $6,000 ÷ 24 = $250. Per meeting booked, the figure would read $6,000 ÷ 30 = $200 and overstate the result. Of the 24 meetings, 8 become qualified opportunities, so its cost per qualified opportunity is $6,000 ÷ 8 = $750.
Quorndale's $6,000 quarter, divided three ways
Use cost per meeting to compare channels and providers.
The measure is most useful side by side: this quarter against last, one channel against another.
The four steps in order
- 1Add all costs
- 2Count held
- 3Compare
- 4Follow through
- 1
Add all costs for the period.
Include time, fees and infrastructure. Use the same list of costs every time.
- 2
Count held meetings.
Take the number from the calendar after the fact, not from bookings.
- 3
Compare like with like.
Set channels or quarters side by side using the same definition.
- 4
Follow through to what the meetings became.
A cheap meeting that never becomes a deal is expensive. Track cost per opportunity too.
Prymatica lists every plan on its pricing page. On Starter and Professional you pay your domain, mailbox and software suppliers directly at cost, and Prymatica never marks them up. See how Prymatica's cold email process works.
Teams make these mistakes with cost per meeting.
Only tool costs are counted.
People are a large part of the cost. A figure without them is not a cost per meeting.
Booked meetings are the divisor.
No-shows cost the same and produce nothing. Divide by meetings held.
The cheapest meeting is assumed to be the best.
A low cost per meeting with poor fit loses to a higher one with buyers who close. Read it beside cost per opportunity.
These glossary terms sit next to cost per meeting.
These Prymatica pages go deeper on cost per meeting.
Questions
People ask these questions about cost per meeting.
How do you calculate cost per meeting?
Add up everything spent on outbound in a period and divide by the number of meetings held in that period. For example, $6,000 spent and 24 meetings held gives $6,000 ÷ 24 = $250 per meeting.
What is the difference between cost per meeting and cost per lead?
Cost per lead divides spend by leads, such as interested replies or form fills. Cost per meeting divides the same spend by meetings held. Cost per meeting is higher and closer to revenue, since not every lead becomes a meeting.
What costs go into cost per meeting?
Salaries or agency fees, prospect data, verification, sending software, domains, mailboxes and any other tool the program needs, all for the same period as the meetings you count.
What is the difference between cost per meeting and pay per meeting?
Cost per meeting is a measure you calculate for any program. Pay per meeting is a pricing model in which a provider charges a fee for each meeting it books. Under a flat monthly fee you can still work out a cost per meeting.
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