Best Agency New Business Services, Compared
The agency new-business specialist market has exactly three committed players: RSW/US (outsourced New Business Director, US, since 2005), Catapult (outsourced BD team, US), and Rainmaker (meetings for agencies, UK, since 1996), plus generalists like Belkins that serve agencies as one vertical. None of the three specialists publishes pricing, and none sells a productized pay-per-meeting service. That structural gap is what VA Horizon's agencies program fills: $300 setup, $250 to $450 per held meeting, published.
Pay per booked meeting. No retainer.
Three specialists, one generalist, one missing product.
Every committed player in agency new business, with what they actually sell and what the research could and could not verify about each.
#1
RSW/US
Not disclosed. Dedicated outsourced New Business Director engagements.
- The longest-running US agency-BD specialist, operating since 2005
- A named director runs your prospecting, outreach, and meeting setup
- Its survey research (with Reagan-style methodology) is cited across the industry, including the 76% BD-director-turnover figure
#2
Catapult
Not disclosed. Outsourced business development team for agencies, adtech, media, and sponsorship.
- ABM-led, multi-channel outreach with CRM and intent data in the stack
- Publishes won-revenue case figures ($3.5M won; $950K in 30 days), vendor-reported
- Frames its price against the $150K-plus in-house Director of New Business alternative
#3
Rainmaker (Intelligent New Business)
Not disclosed. UK-based, established 1996.
- The only vendor found whose entire positioning is meetings for marketing agencies
- British client roster (33Seconds, The Hunger, adam&eveStudios per its site)
- No visible US market presence, which leaves the US pure-play slot open
#4
Belkins (generalist benchmark)
Call-gated; third-party estimates $5,000 to $14,800-plus a month.
- The deepest documented agency client roster among generalists (100-plus, with named case studies)
- Serves agencies as one vertical among many rather than a specialty
- The practical benchmark for what generalist retainer engagements cost
#5
VA Horizon
Published: $300 setup, $250 to $450 per held, double-confirmed meeting.
- The productized slot the specialists leave open: meetings as the billing unit, price in the open
- Human + AI SDRs over SMS, qualification criteria you sign, receipts behind every charge
- Built for the agency owner who wants pipeline without a retainer or a hire
The category at a glance
| Decision Point | VA Horizon | Field |
|---|---|---|
The honest verdict
If you want a seasoned director-level operator embedded in your agency and price transparency matters less than depth, call RSW/US and Catapult and compare their proposals. If you are in the UK, Rainmaker has owned this niche for nearly three decades. If you want the productized version, meetings billed per held conversation at a range you can read before anyone calls you, that product did not exist in the US market our research mapped, so we built it and put the price on the page.
The agency new-business category, answered.
Who are the main agency new business development companies?
What does an outsourced new business director cost?
Is there a pay-per-meeting service built for agencies?
Outsourced BD director or pay-per-meeting: which fits my agency?
The productized option, priced in the open.
Book a 15-minute fit call: your rate inside the published $250 to $450 range, the $300 setup, and a signed qualification doc, before you sit through anyone's pitch deck.
Recommended next steps