Market report · St. Louis, MO-IL
The State of Outbound Sales in St. Louis, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the St. Louis, MO-IL metro right now: who the buyers are, which trades have room, what is being built, what a rep costs to hire here. Then a 4-tool kit to work the market this month.
- 7,168business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #20 of our 100 metros
- 14buyer sites per electrical contractor, #10 of 100 markets: the best rank of any trade here
Sites: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; rank among the 100 metros on our market pages. Room: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 sites per contractor in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1, among markets with at least 10 contractors.
Executive summary Read this if nothing else
5 things to know about outbound sales in St. Louis
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 2,050 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in St. Louis, ahead of retail stores (1,508).
Where the metro leans
Close to the national mix
No buyer category in St. Louis sits 20% or more above its national share, so lead with the biggest pools rather than a specialty.
Most room
Commercial Electrical: #10 of 100 markets
14 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 223 local electrical contractors. The most crowded is commercial painting & coatings, #65 of 86.
Biggest reason to call
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, $600 million
Topped out; opening 2027. One of 5 named, sourced projects in this report.
Hiring locally
$124,700 for an in-house SDR's first year (illustrative)
At a $55,000 base salary, once commission, payroll taxes and benefits, tools, recruiting and training, turnover and manager time are added, before ramp time.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1; project sources as of 2026-09; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Full list at the end.
Chapter 01 The market
Who buys in St. Louis
7,168 business sites in St. Louis have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #20 of the 100 metros we publish. Here is what those buyers are and where they sit.
The largest buyer categories
Sites with 20 or more people are the ones worth an SDR's time: big enough to have a facility lead, a service budget and a contract that comes up for renewal. The "vs. U.S. mix" column compares each category's share of local employment with its national share (1.00x is the U.S. average).
| Category | Sites with 20+ | All sites | vs. U.S. mix | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RestaurantsLargest pool | 2,050 | 5,980 | 1.00x | +139 |
| Retail stores | 1,508 | 8,095 | 0.93x | +1 |
| Manufacturing plants | 814 | 2,220 | 0.86x | +80 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 687 | 6,438 | 0.86x | +107 |
| Wholesale distributors | 658 | 3,224 | 0.72x | +4 |
| Senior living and nursing | 320 | 746 | 0.84x | -13 |
| Grocery stores | 249 | 991 | 0.77x | +22 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 221 | 1,772 | 0.38x | +11 |
| Trucking companies | 187 | 1,330 | 0.88x | -12 |
| Bank and credit union offices | 170 | 1,630 | 0.91x | +16 |
No category in St. Louis sits 20% or more above its national share, so the market rewards trades that sell to the biggest pools rather than a niche.
It is thinner than the U.S. mix in churches and religious organizations (0.38x) and colleges and universities (0.43x). A program built around those buyers runs out of fresh accounts sooner here.
Growing fastest over the past year, by establishment count: restaurants (+139), medical, dental and outpatient offices (+107) and manufacturing plants (+80). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
St. Louis, MO-IL: 14 counties in this report's counts.
St. Louis County, St. Louis city and St. Charles County hold 68% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| St. Louis CountyStart here | 3,026 | 42% |
| St. Louis city | 933 | 13% |
| St. Charles County | 909 | 13% |
| Madison County, Illinois | 597 | 8% |
| St. Clair County, Illinois | 524 | 7% |
| Jefferson County | 316 | 4% |
| Franklin County | 258 | 4% |
| Clinton County, Illinois | 65 | 1% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in St. Louis
Buyer sites per contractor is a rough read on how crowded a trade is: more sites for each local competitor means more doors nobody else is knocking on. Each trade's St. Louis figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial ElectricalMost room | #10 of 100 | 14 | 223 | +2 |
| Fire Protection | #19 of 96 | 62 | 66 | +1 |
| Managed Service Providers | #23 of 100 | 4.1 | 959 | +43 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #30 of 100 | 4.5 | 604 | +19 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | #38 of 100 | 11 | 225 | -1 |
| Commercial Construction | #39 of 100 | 5.4 | 416 | +23 |
| Commercial Flooring | #30 of 68 | 75 | 29 | -2 |
| Commercial Landscaping | #63 of 100 | 3.3 | 1,121 | +65 |
| Paving & Asphalt | #61 of 94 | 37 | 95 | -1 |
| Commercial Roofing | #63 of 89 | 55 | 65 | +5 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | #65 of 86 | 53 | 70 | -4 |
Commercial electrical (#10), fire protection (#19) and managed service providers (#23) rank best in St. Louis. For those trades a program can work longer before it calls the same building twice, and fewer competitors have already pitched each owner.
Commercial painting & coatings is the most crowded trade here, #65 of 86: 53 buyer sites for each of 70 local commercial painting contractors. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Commercial painting & coatings (-4) and commercial flooring (-2) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Commercial landscaping (+65) and managed service providers (+43) added them.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover St. Louis yet. We take one client per trade per territory, so ask before you plan around it.
Chapter 03 The projects
What is being built, and who owns the buildings
5 named, sourced projects and 6 anchor owners in St. Louis. Each one is a reason to call that has nothing to do with your company and everything to do with the buyer's building.
The projects
- 01 · $600 million SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital Topped out; opening 2027 A 14-story, 500,000-square-foot replacement children's hospital at South Grand Boulevard and Chouteau Avenue in St. Louis. With the frame topped out in April 2026, the next year is dominated by mechanical, electrical, fire protection and interior finish work, then service contracts for a full hospital. St. Louis Public Radio, 2026-04-07
- 02 · $1.8 billion Boeing St. Louis campus expansion Under construction in phases A 1.1-million-square-foot expansion of Boeing's defense campus in St. Louis County with new advanced assembly facilities and a post-assembly operations center. Phases deliver between 2026 and 2030, so large-span roofing, industrial electrical, HVAC and fire protection packages recur over several years, along with demolition and site paving. Construction Dive, 2025-06-12
- 03 · $650 million Mercy Hospital Wentzville Under construction A 75-bed hospital and medical campus on 60 acres near the convergence of Interstates 70 and 64 at Highway 61 in Wentzville, St. Charles County. The hospital is scheduled to open in 2029, so tower framing, mechanical and electrical work run through 2027 and 2028, with large parking and site paving packages on a greenfield campus. St. Louis Public Radio, 2025-04-25
- 04 · $3.1 billion Armory Innovation data center Approved; facing lawsuits A 120-megawatt data center in the former Famous-Barr warehouse next to the Armory in Midtown St. Louis, approved by the city's Board of Public Service in April 2026. The city permit calls for full operation by the end of 2028 and requires air-cooled chillers, battery backup and a cool or green roof, which points to electrical, mechanical and roofing scopes if litigation does not delay it. St. Louis Public Radio, 2026-09-17
- 05 St. Louis Lambert International Airport consolidated terminal In design; construction targeted for 2027 A single consolidated passenger terminal on the Terminal 1 footprint at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in St. Louis County, with wider concourses and more concession space. The 60% design milestone is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2027, ahead of a 2027 construction start, so contractors have time to position for multi-year mechanical, electrical, fire protection and finish packages. KMOV First Alert 4, 2026-07-24
Projects current as of 2026-09; each source is linked on its card. Values are as reported by the source.
The anchor owners
Health systems, campuses, large employers and industrial parks hold the biggest concentrations of commercial buildings in St. Louis. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · St. Louis, St. Louis city
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Barnes-Jewish Hospital says it is the largest hospital in Missouri and the largest private employer in the St. Louis region, with a 1,800 member medical staff.
The Washington University Medical Center campus, part of BJC HealthCare, needs mechanical, life-safety, cleaning and interior work around the clock.
Barnes-Jewish HospitalCampus · St. Louis, St. Louis County
Washington University in St. Louis
Wikipedia says Washington University enrolled 16,399 students as of 2024.
Multiple campuses hold classrooms, labs, residence halls and grounds that need HVAC, cleaning, roofing and landscape crews.
WikipediaAirport · St. Louis County
St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL)
Wikipedia lists 15,303,756 total passengers at Lambert in 2025, sourced to the airport.
Terminals, garages and airfield support buildings need cleaning, HVAC service, electrical work and pavement upkeep.
WikipediaMajor employer · St. Louis, St. Louis city
Anheuser-Busch Brewery
Wikipedia says the Anheuser-Busch brewery property covers 142 acres and includes 189 buildings.
A working brewery with historic brick buildings and modern packaging plants runs refrigeration, process electrical, roofing and painting programs.
WikipediaLogistics hub · Granite City, Madison County, Illinois
America's Central Port
America's Central Port says it has access to six Class-I railroads, two multi-modal harbors and four U.S. interstates, and is home to over 50 businesses and freight-intensive operators.
Warehouses, terminals and industrial spaces at the port need roofing, paving, electrical and fire protection work.
America's Central PortRetail center · Richmond Heights, St. Louis County
Saint Louis Galleria
Wikipedia lists the Saint Louis Galleria at 1.2 million square feet of floor area, with a citation.
An enclosed mall with anchor stores, a food court and parking needs cleaning, HVAC, flooring and pavement work, including a store conversion under construction in 2026.
WikipediaAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 10 |
| Commercial Electrical | 9 |
| Fire Protection | 6 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 5 |
| Commercial Roofing | 5 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 4 |
| Commercial Construction | 4 |
| Commercial Flooring | 4 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 2 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 2 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The St. Louis selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the St. Louis metro's counties, month by month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail and damaging wind reportstotal, 2015 to 2024 | 2 | 27 | 100 | 174 | 224 | 182 | 199 | 92 | 20 | 17 | 16 | 16 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 0 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 116 | 283 | 395 | 347 | 159 | 21 | 1 | 0 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 1,067 | 834 | 634 | 297 | 104 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 50 | 264 | 603 | 931 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 39 | 45 | 55 | 67 | 76 | 85 | 88 | 87 | 80 | 69 | 55 | 43 |
NOAA logged 348 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 721 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #13 of 100 markets for hail and #20 for wind. May, June and July carried 57% of the reports. Storm calls are a real door-opener here, and the contractor who is already known before the season gets the inspection.
The metro averages 1,346 cooling degree days a year (#42 of 97 markets) and 4,794 heating degree days (#42 of 97). Cooling load peaks in June, July and August; heating in January, February, March, November and December. Peak months are when HVAC calls lead with service and response times; the rest of the year they lead with planned work and budgets.
7 months average a high of 60°F or more (April, May, June, July, August, September and October). That is when exterior painting, paving and landscaping crews are busiest, so in-season calls catch owners while they can see the work that needs doing. The contracts themselves are bid on each property's own dates, so the selling runs all year.
Trades with no weather season
Cleaning, construction, electrical, flooring and fire protection sell on contract end dates, budgets and inspection cycles. Learn each account's date on the first call and come back before it.
Roofing demand spikes after hail and wind events, when owners want an inspection and documentation for their insurer, so be the known contractor before the storm, not one of many calling after it. Planned work follows each owner's budget: inspections feed capital requests, and replacements are approved ahead of installation. Outbound runs every month, keyed to each building's roof age and budget date.
Chapter 05 The numbers
What one meeting takes, trade by trade
What booking a meeting has taken on our own calling floor for the trades we run in St. Louis, next to the records we can prospect here. The sales center figures are national; it does not break them out by city yet.
| Trade | Dials per appointment | Reached proposal | Proposals won | Dials for 10 meetings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire ProtectionFastest to book | 78 | 21.6% | 13.2% | about 780 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 86 | 32.2% | 7.4% | about 860 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 88 | 18.8% | 12.7% | about 880 |
| Commercial Electrical | 96 | 14.6% | 21.1% | about 960 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 98 | 16.6% | 24.9% | about 980 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 115 | 31.2% | 14.4% | about 1,150 |
| Commercial Flooring | 122 | 30.8% | 9.8% | about 1,220 |
| Commercial Roofing | 140 | 25.9% | 16.1% | about 1,400 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 142 | 23.9% | 21.7% | about 1,420 |
| Managed Service Providers | 162 | 10.0% | 20.5% | about 1,620 |
All of these trades together: 122 dials per appointment
The records behind a St. Louis program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington territory.
- 7,870Commercial Roofing
- 7,870Commercial Construction
- 3,272Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 2,561Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial
Source: Abstrakt territory record counts, as of October 2026: estimated decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each program in the territory. Shown for the programs the count covers.
Read it this way
Divide the records by the dials one meeting takes and you see how long a list lasts before it repeats. A thin list means a program has to work every record well, not just call more.
Chapter 06 Build or buy
What an in-house SDR costs in St. Louis
Before you hire a sales development rep in St. Louis, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 7,750 people hold the role in the St. Louis, MO-IL metro, and every one of their employers is competing for the same hires.
| Cost | Year one |
|---|---|
| Base salary | $55,000 |
| Commission and bonus | $15,000 |
| Payroll taxes and benefits (25% of pay) | $17,500 |
| Tools and data ($550 a month) | $6,600 |
| Recruiting and training | $7,000 |
| Turnover (35% a year, rehiring) | $2,450 |
| Manager and QA time (5 hours a week) and admin (4 hours a month) | $21,150 |
| Total, before ramp time | $124,700 |
Headcount: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services and travel (SOC 41-3091). The cost lines are the starting values of our SDR cost calculator: $15,000 commission, 25% payroll taxes and benefits, $550 a month in tools, $7,000 recruiting and training, 35% yearly turnover, and manager, QA and admin time. Change any of them there.
$124,700
for one in-house SDR's first year at a $55,000 base salary.
That buys one rep. It does not buy the list, the manager's coaching system or cover when the rep leaves.
Part two Apply this
The St. Louis market toolkit
4 working tools built from the chapters above. Tick the boxes as you go (they stay ticked in this browser), copy the scripts into your CRM, or save the whole guide as a PDF and print this part as a worksheet.
Tool 01
Account scorecard
Before an account goes on the call list, check every line that fits. Call the accounts with the most ticks first, and leave the ones with none for later.
Tool 02
Discovery question bank
Ask fewer, better questions. Pick three or four for the call and save the rest for the meeting. Each one comes with the reason it earns its place.
Restaurants: 2,050 sites here
From our fire protection talk track. Staying open and passing inspection. Multi-unit operators are worth more than single locations.
- When was your hood suppression system last inspected, and when is the next one due?Due dates tell you when to call and what to offer.
- Have you had a failed inspection or a citation recently?Failed inspections threaten the ability to stay open and create urgency.
- How many locations do you operate, and does each one use a different vendor?Multi-unit operators are more valuable and often want one vendor across locations.
Retail stores: 1,508 sites here
From our electrical talk track. Lighting cost and fast repair. For chains, decisions often sit in a regional facilities office, so find who owns vendors for your area.
- Who handles electrical service for this store, the store, a regional facilities office or a national provider?For chains, decisions often sit outside the store, so this tells you who to call next.
- Is a lighting retrofit or remodel planned for this location?Remodels and retrofits are defined projects with budgets.
- How fast does your current electrician respond when lights or signs go out?Slow response during business hours is a common reason to add a vendor.
Manufacturing plants: 814 sites here
From our electrical talk track. Uptime and planned shutdowns. Ask what an electrical failure costs the line and when the next shutdown window is.
- When was the last unplanned electrical outage, and what did it cost the line?A recent outage gives you the cost of failure in the plant's own words, which justifies preventative work.
- When is your next planned shutdown, and what electrical work is already on that list?Shutdown windows are when real work happens, so this tells you when a proposal must be approved.
- Has anyone done infrared scanning or switchgear maintenance on your gear recently?Missing maintenance on critical gear is a concrete, defined first project.
Any first meeting
Plain practice that works in every market.
- How are you handling this today, and what would you change about it?The gap between today and what they want is the whole reason to meet.
- What happens if nothing changes this year?Tells you whether there is a cost to waiting, or only curiosity.
- Who else would need to agree before anything moves?Names the people who can stall the deal, while you can still invite them.
- When does the current contract or budget come up for review?Gives you the date to plan around, even when the answer today is no.
- What would make a first meeting worth your time?Lets the buyer set the agenda, which is the agenda they will show up for.
Tool 03
Trigger watchlist
Each of these changes gives a buyer a reason to take the call this month instead of next year. Tick the ones you will track, and set a news alert or CRM field for each so you hear about it first.
Tool 04
30-day action plan
4 weeks, 15 steps, nothing you need to buy. Tick each one off as you finish it; your progress stays in this browser.
Week 1Draw the territory
Week 2Check the rules, then write the talk track
Week 3Make the calls
Week 4Measure and decide
Sources and notes
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023: business sites by category, size and county, St. Louis, MO-IL.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1: contractor establishments, one-year change and concentration (location quotient).
- Projects: named public sources linked on each card, current as of 2026-09.
- Anchor owners: sources linked on each card, checked 2026-10.
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2015 to 2024: hail and damaging wind reports by month across the metro's counties.
- NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county monthly series, 1991-2020 averages: degree days and average highs by month.
- Abstrakt sales center, Performance Intelligence, national, as of October 2026: dials, appointments, proposals and wins by trade. Method.
- Abstrakt territory record counts, as of October 2026: decision-maker records per program in the St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington territory.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025: Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services and travel (SOC 41-3091).
- The toolkit's discovery questions come from our trade talk tracks; the plan and checklists are sales practice, not data.
