Telesales in Australia is a phrase that covers three different services, and buyers who do not separate them end up hiring the wrong one. It can mean closing sales over the phone (true telesales), booking qualified meetings for a field or inside sales team (appointment setting), or running structured outbound calling campaigns for lead generation, events or data (B2B telemarketing).
This ranking compares the 9 best telesales and outbound calling companies operating in Australia in 2026 on which of those three they actually do, where the callers sit, how they price, and who they suit. For the broader landscape of outsourcing models, see our guide to sales outsourcing in Australia.
Telesales vs appointment setting vs SDR
Before the list, a definition, because the three are priced and measured completely differently.
Telesales. The caller closes the sale on the phone. Suits low complexity, low ticket products with a single decision maker. Measured on units sold or revenue.
Appointment setting. The caller books a meeting with a qualified decision maker for your closer. Suits considered B2B purchases. Measured on qualified meetings held.
Outsourced SDR. Appointment setting plus list building, multi channel sequencing, messaging iteration and qualification strategy. Measured on qualified meetings and pipeline generated.
Most Australian B2B companies searching for "telesales companies" actually need appointment setting or SDR. Very few B2B products above a few thousand dollars close on a single cold call.
How telesales companies price, and what each model buys you
Four structures dominate the Australian market. Knowing which one a provider uses tells you what behaviour you are paying for.
Per hour. Common for campaign telemarketing and contact centre work. Australian onshore outsourced call centre rates run around A$60 to A$80 per agent hour fully loaded (1), with specialist B2B callers above that. You are buying time, so the provider's incentive is utilisation, not outcomes. Good for surveys, invitations and data work where the output is not a meeting.
Per appointment or per lead. You pay for each unit delivered against a definition. Typical onshore Australian range for a qualified B2B meeting is $200 to $600. The incentive is volume, so the definition of the unit is everything. Weak definitions produce courtesy appointments.
Per sale or commission. True telesales, where the provider closes over the phone and takes a percentage. Suits low ticket, single decision maker products. Rare in considered B2B because closes do not happen on a cold call.
Monthly retainer. A fixed fee for a defined allocation of caller time plus list, tooling and management. Standard for ongoing appointment setting and SDR programs. The provider is paid regardless of output, so weekly reporting and short terms are the controls.
Our pay per meeting vs retainer comparison goes deeper on the incentive differences.
The 9 best telesales and outbound calling companies in Australia
1. Nousu Collective. Best for B2B appointment setting and outsourced SDR
What they sell over the phone. Qualified meetings with decision makers. Not closed sales.
Where. Sydney, 100 percent Australian callers.
Strengths. Phone first methodology, callers briefed on the client's sector, weekly call recording review, published pricing, 3 month initial term then month to month. Specialises in B2B tech and professional services.
Pricing. Published at nousucollective.com/pricing.
Best for. B2B companies selling considered products above roughly $10,000 a year who want qualified meetings, not phone closes.
Verdict. The strongest pick for B2B appointment setting and SDR in Australia. Not a telesales closer; if you need phone based closing of a simple product, look further down the list.
2. Forrest Contact. Best for high volume campaign calling
What they sell over the phone. Lead generation, appointment setting, surveys and campaign calls across phone, email and digital.
Where. Sydney based contact centre, no offshoring. Operating since 2006 (formerly Forrest Marketing Group).
Strengths. Contact centre scale. Twenty years of Australian campaign history. Live Power BI dashboards. Suits structured, high volume programs and blended inbound and outbound.
Pricing. Quote based.
Best for. Companies with large lists, event invitation programs or database work.
Verdict. A solid volume operator. Less iterative than a dedicated SDR agency on messaging and ICP.
3. Lead Express. Best for guaranteed lead volume
What they sell over the phone. Qualified leads and appointments under a guarantee model.
Where. Melbourne, in house Australian call centre.
Pricing. Around $8,000 to $15,000 a month for guaranteed packages.
Best for. Buyers who value budget certainty over flexibility.
Verdict. The guarantee is real and useful. Traditional lead definition; confirm what "qualified" means before signing.
4. Telemarketing Professionals. Best for appointment setting on simple offers
What they sell over the phone. Appointments, telemarketing campaigns and lead generation, combined with email automation.
Where. Australia. States it uses Australian telemarketers. Founded 2010.
Pricing. Quote based.
Best for. SMBs with straightforward offers wanting appointments booked.
Verdict. Reliable telemarketing led appointment setting. Less suited to complex, multi stakeholder sales.
5. Unity4. Best for outsourced contact centre telesales at scale
What they sell over the phone. Outbound and inbound contact centre services, not for profit telefundraising, lead generation and performance marketing (through its Cohort and Omnilead units), on its own RapportCMS platform.
Where. Founded in Sydney in 2000. Runs a distributed, home based agent model with agents across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA and Fiji rather than a single call floor. Ask which agent pool your campaign would use.
Pricing. Quote based.
Best for. Companies needing true telesales, fundraising or blended inbound and outbound at contact centre scale, particularly government and enterprise programs.
Verdict. A large contact centre operator rather than a B2B SDR specialist, with a strong government and not for profit footprint. Right tool for phone closing of simple products at volume; confirm agent location for considered B2B.
6. CallForce. Best for national B2B telemarketing from one Australian office
What they sell over the phone. Appointment setting, cold calling, telemarketing, telesales and database cleansing.
Where. Melbourne. All calls from the Melbourne office, servicing every Australian capital including Adelaide, Perth and Canberra.
Pricing. Quote based.
Best for. Companies wanting a single Australian telemarketing partner for campaigns across multiple cities.
Verdict. Broad service range with onshore delivery. Confirm B2B sector depth for complex offers.
7. J2 Group. Best for choice of onshore or offshore calling
What they sell over the phone. Appointment setting and outsourced SDR, with an Australian based rep option and a South Africa based team option, plus field sales.
Where. Melbourne, with offshore delivery from South Africa.
Pricing. Per hour or per appointment for telemarketing style engagements; program pricing quote based.
Best for. Buyers who want to trade off onshore quality against offshore cost explicitly.
Verdict. Flexible. Offshore option carries the usual performance gap into Australian buyers.
8. Telestar Marketing. Best for Perth and WA campaigns
What they sell over the phone. Outbound telemarketing, telesales, B2B appointment setting, inbound sales and retention.
Where. Perth.
Pricing. Quote based.
Best for. Western Australian companies wanting a local outbound call centre.
Verdict. Genuinely Perth based, which most "Perth" providers are not. Verify B2B depth for considered sales.
9. Big Wolf Marketing. Best for SMB campaigns across ANZ and Asia
What they sell over the phone. B2B telemarketing, lead generation and appointment setting.
Where. Melbourne, servicing all Australian states plus New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Pricing. Quote based.
Best for. SMBs wanting campaign based calling with regional reach.
Verdict. Useful for smaller campaigns and regional coverage. Not a dedicated SDR function.
Quick comparison
| Provider | Primary service | Callers located | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nousu Collective | Appointment setting, outsourced SDR | Australia only | Retainer, published |
| Forrest Contact | Campaign calling, lead gen | Australia | Quote based |
| Lead Express | Guaranteed leads, appointments | Australia | Package |
| Telemarketing Professionals | Appointment setting, telemarketing | Australia (stated) | Quote based |
| Unity4 | Contact centre telesales, fundraising | Distributed AU, NZ, UK, USA, Fiji | Quote based |
| CallForce | Telemarketing, appointment setting | Australia (Melbourne) | Quote based |
| J2 Group | SDR, appointment setting, field | Australia or South Africa | Per hour / program |
| Telestar Marketing | Telemarketing, telesales | Australia (Perth) | Quote based |
| Big Wolf Marketing | Telemarketing, appointment setting | Australia (Melbourne) | Quote based |
How to brief a telesales or appointment setting company
Most poor campaigns start with a poor brief. Whatever model you buy, give the provider these eight things before the first call.
- The objective in one sentence. "Book qualified meetings with finance directors at NSW manufacturers with 50 to 300 staff" is a brief. "Generate leads" is not.
- The ICP. Size, sector, geography, situation. Attach it as a document.
- The decision maker titles. Who counts, and who does not.
- What a qualified meeting means. Right person, right company, confirmed need, attended. Our guide on how an outbound agency should define a qualified meeting has template language.
- Three customer stories. Who they were, what problem they had, what happened. Callers use these every hour.
- The three objections you hear most, and how your best salesperson answers them.
- Suppressions. Existing customers, open opportunities, do not contact requests.
- Calendar and CRM access, and the name of the person who will give feedback weekly.
A provider who does not ask for most of these on the first call is planning to call your list with their script.
When to move from telesales to an SDR function
Telesales and appointment setting run out of road at a predictable point. Four signs it is time to move up a model.
- Your appointment show rate is falling because the meetings are being booked with people who agreed to end the call rather than people with a need.
- Your AEs report that meetings arrive with no context and the first ten minutes are spent re qualifying.
- The same list has been called through twice and nobody is rebuilding it.
- Your product or your buyer has become more complex than a script can carry.
At that point you need someone building the list, iterating the messaging and qualifying strategically, which is an SDR function. Our comparison of appointment setters vs SDRs covers the transition.
Compliance checklist for Australian telesales
Everything below applies to every provider on this list and to you as the brand on the call.
- Calling line identification enabled on every call. A "private" number breaches the ACMA standard.
- Caller states their name and the purpose of the call at the start.
- Telemarketing calls only on weekdays 9am to 8pm and Saturdays 9am to 5pm in the recipient's local time, not on Sundays or national public holidays, unless the recipient has consented to other times.
- Call terminated promptly when the recipient asks.
- Do not contact requests honoured and recorded.
- Business numbers are largely outside the Do Not Call Register, but the industry standard applies regardless of whether a number is registered, and consumer numbers used by sole traders may be registered. Wash any list that could contain them.
- Email and SMS follow ups comply with the Spam Act: identification, consent or existing relationship, and a working unsubscribe.
- Contact data collected and used in line with the Privacy Act.
Penalties for breaching the telemarketing standard can reach $250,000 (1). More importantly for a B2B brand, a complaint from a prospect travels further than a fine.
What to check before hiring any telesales company
Which of the three services are you buying? Closing, appointment setting or campaign calling. Get it in writing with the metric you will be measured on.
Where do the callers sit? Australian management with offshore callers is common. Ask directly.
Compliance. All telemarketing calls to Australian numbers must follow the ACMA Telecommunications (Telemarketing and Research Calls) Industry Standard: caller ID enabled, caller identified, purpose stated, and calls within permitted hours (weekdays 9am to 8pm, Saturdays 9am to 5pm, not on Sundays or national public holidays, unless the person has consented to other times). Penalties can reach $250,000 (1). Business numbers are largely outside the Do Not Call Register, but the standard applies regardless. Our cold calling laws guide has the detail.
Recordings. If a provider will not share call recordings, you cannot manage quality.
Commitment. Campaign based pricing for telemarketing is normal. For ongoing appointment setting or SDR, three months then month to month is fair.
The bottom line
Most Australian B2B companies searching for telesales companies need appointment setting or outsourced SDR rather than phone closing. For that, a phone first onshore specialist wins. For true telesales of simple products at volume, a contact centre operator is the right shape. Decide which service you are buying before you compare prices, or you will compare the wrong things.
Not sure which you need? Book a 15 minute call and we will tell you, including if it is not us.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between telesales and appointment setting? Telesales closes the sale over the phone. Appointment setting books a qualified meeting for your closer. Most B2B products above a few thousand dollars need appointment setting, not telesales.
How much do telesales companies charge in Australia? Onshore outsourced calling typically runs $60 to $80 per agent hour fully loaded for contact centre work, and more for specialist B2B appointment setters. Appointment setting is often $200 to $600 per qualified meeting or a monthly retainer. Guaranteed lead packages run around $8,000 to $15,000 a month.
What hours can telesales companies call Australian businesses? Under the ACMA telemarketing standard, weekdays 9am to 8pm and Saturdays 9am to 5pm local time, not on Sundays or national public holidays, unless the recipient has consented to other times.
Are Australian telesales companies allowed to call business numbers on the Do Not Call Register? Business numbers are largely outside the Register's scope, and most cannot be registered. The ACMA industry standard on identification, caller ID and calling hours still applies to every call.
What is the difference between a telesales company and a call centre? A call centre is a facility or workforce handling volume calls, inbound and outbound, across sales, service and support. A telesales company specialises in selling or booking meetings by phone. Several providers on this list are call centres offering telesales; the specialist appointment setting and SDR providers are not call centres.
How much does it cost to outsource telesales in Australia? Onshore call centre calling runs around $60 to $80 per agent hour fully loaded. Qualified B2B appointments typically cost $200 to $600 each. Ongoing appointment setting or SDR programs run on monthly retainers of $6,000 to $15,000. Commission only telesales exists for simple, low ticket products.
Sources and references
- Do Not Call Register (ACMA). Industry Standards. https://www.donotcall.gov.au/industry/industry-overview/industry-standards ; "More consumer protection: industry standards.".
- The Manifest. The Best Appointment Setting Companies in Sydney.
- Matchboard. Call Centre Outsourcing Pricing in Australia. (A$60 to A$80 per agent hour, 2026.).
- Unity4. https://www.unity4.com/ ; Unity4 on LinkedIn (Cohort and Omnilead).
- Forrest Contact.
- CallForce.
- Telestar Marketing.
- Big Wolf Marketing.
- J2 Group.
- toflow.ai. 10 Best B2B Sales Agencies in Australia (2026).
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