SG&A Benchmark
Example How it works Pricing Get a quote →

See exactly where your back-office headcount sits versus your competitors.

Built entirely from public data, in days, for a fraction of a consulting study. Benchmark any company, including peers who never agreed to participate, down to the function level.

9 functions, 30+ sub-functions
days, not months
no survey required
Start your benchmark
Which company do you want to benchmark?
We size every company from public data and suggest peers on the next step. No login required.
The problem

Benchmarking is out-dated, expensive, and a black box.

Outdated
Not real-time
Based on surveys and interviews from years ago. The world is changing too fast to keep up.
Expensive
$250K+ per study
A consulting engagement with a SOW and a kickoff deck, not something you run on a hunch.
Self-reported
Shallow and opt-in
A top-line percentage from a cohort that agreed to be measured. Never your real competitor.
A black box
No audit trail
You never see the companies or names behind the numbers. Opacity is presented as confidentiality.
The old way
$250K+
Months of work. Cohort must opt in.
This benchmark
Days, priced per company
Outside-in, any company, and fully auditable. Every figure traces to a named, public role.
Who it's for

Built for everyone who has to put a number on someone else's org.

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Worked example
modeled from public data

How Sysco stacks up against its peers.

An $81B foodservice distributor, benchmarked against four peers. The denominator changes the story: measured per dollar of revenue the distributors all look lean, but revenue is a thin, passthrough-heavy base. Switch to gross margin and the real back-office load shows. Every figure is rebuilt outside-in from public footprints.

Sysco, function by function
Mid-pack at 91 G&A FTE per $B revenue, but that flatters the field. Per $B of gross margin the spread compresses and Performance Food Group's revenue-basis "lead" nearly closes, because its revenue is inflated by tobacco and excise passthrough. Tap any function to open its sub-functions.
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All SG&A functions peer rangemedian
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Sub-functions vs peer median · illustrative, resolved in delivery
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Modeled from public data, FY2025. Cerise bar = Sysco; shaded band = illustrative peer range, tick = size-adjusted peer median (US Foods, PFG, UNFI, Chefs' Warehouse — each normalized by its own revenue and gross profit). Delta shows Sysco vs. that median.
Cross-check, gross margin %
Sysco 18.4% vs. a peer median of 15.4% (US Foods 17.4 · PFG 11.7 · UNFI 13.3 · Chefs' Warehouse 24.1). Thin margins on huge revenue are why the per-$B-revenue view flatters everyone.
Also available Additional benchmarking findings, on request
Split by country
United States 46% EMEA 25% APAC 17% LATAM 12%
Current employee tenure
<2y
2–5y
5–10y
10y+
Count by level
SVP
VP
Director
Manager
IC
Illustrative. These cuts are available as add-on findings for any company in your cohort.
How it works

Five steps from public footprints to a defensible number.

Every estimate is reconstructed, cross-verified, and grossed up, then benchmarked against the cohort you choose.

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How we build one number, Finance
proof of method
Every figure is built the same way: start from what LinkedIn shows, recover what it misses, and only then commit to a modeled number.
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{{ wf.runTot }} · gross-up 1.16×
modeled from public data About 86% of the estimate is classified directly on LinkedIn (1,157 of 1,344), then grossed up 1.16x for the roles LinkedIn does not show.
Optional add-on Tie-out to your data: we optionally reconcile the benchmark against your own numbers to raise confidence in the result.
How it compares

How our offer compares to the alternatives

We do one thing: an outside-in SG&A benchmark, priced per company. Here is how it sits against the other ways teams answer this question. These are alternative approaches, not options to choose here.

Our offer
The outside-in SG&A benchmark
Any company, no opt-in. Nine SG&A functions, cross-verified from public data, with a read-out led by a former McKinsey partner.
~$15K
for a 4-company cohort, delivered in days
Get a quote →
The alternatives, by cost
DIY data tools
License fees + your hours
relative cost
›Raw LinkedIn + ZoomInfo pulls
›Unclassified, headcount only
Benchmark subscription
$30K+ / year
relative cost
›Weeks, only if you are in the dataset
›Process and cost pools, member-submitted
Consultant study
$250K+ per study
relative cost
›Months of fieldwork
›Cohort must opt in, self-reported
Named alternatives are illustrative of each category, not direct quotes.
What you receive

A living benchmark you can analyze and defend, line by line.

A private, interactive benchmarking microsite for your cohort, not a static spreadsheet. Drill into any function to see exactly how every number was built.

✓
Drillable peer comparison: toggle per $B revenue, per $B gross margin, or per 1,000 employees
✓
Every company benchmarked side by side, function by function
✓
Trust scores and a full source mix on every figure
✓
Complete methodology, plus a live read-out call
✓
A downloadable workbook as a companion export
See the taxonomy: what's in each bucket ›
sysco.sgabenchmarking.com
Sysco · G&A FTE by function · tap to expand
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Sub-functions · illustrative
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Every figure ships with its source mix and a trust score
LinkedIn ZoomInfo Web-verified
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modeled from public data · FY2025
KH
Kyle Hawke
Former Partner, McKinsey & Company
Corporate Business Functions practice
Talk to Kyle ›
Who delivers it

The benchmark comes with the judgment to use it.

Every engagement is run and read out personally by a former McKinsey partner. You get the number, and the insight that goes with it, from someone who has sat on the other side of the boardroom.

A live read-out call
How to interpret the gap, how to present it to your board or deal team, and what to do about it.
Beyond the benchmark
Hands-on help to act on what it surfaces, from target-setting to operating-model and cost work.
Pricing

Estimate your benchmark.

Priced per company plus a per-FTE component, with two optional add-ons. Adjust the inputs to see a live estimate.

× $2,000 each
We size this from public data; a rough number is fine.
× $0.10 per FTE
Optional add-ons+
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Estimated quote
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Start a benchmark →
Indicative estimate. We confirm final scope and price before any work begins.
FAQ

The objections, answered.

How accurate is an outside-in estimate?+
We rebuild each function from named, public roles, cross-verify against ZoomInfo, and gross up for the people LinkedIn does not show. Every figure carries a trust score and a confidence band. On a company like this, roughly 86% of the estimate is classified directly from public LinkedIn roles, then grossed up about 1.16x for what LinkedIn misses, with ZoomInfo and targeted web checks used to cross-verify. The result is a directional headcount you can act on and defend, not a precise internal census. When you need precision, we tie out to your own numbers as an add-on.
Is it legal and privacy-compliant?+
We use only public professional data: LinkedIn footprints, ZoomInfo firmographics, and SEC filings. No private records, no sensitive personal data, nothing scraped from behind a login. The deliverable is aggregate, function-level headcount, not a contact list or a file on any individual.
Can I trust the numbers without an audit?+
Every number traces back to named, public roles, and you can drill from a function down to the people behind it. Nothing is a black box. Each figure ships with its source mix and a trust score, so you can see exactly how much weight to put on it, function by function, before you take it to your board.
How is this different from a consultant or a subscription?+
A consulting study runs $250K and takes months. A benchmark subscription only covers companies already in its dataset. We deliver in days, priced per company, and we can benchmark any organization, including competitors who never agreed to participate. And we resolve to the function and sub-function level, not one top-line percentage.
What if a competitor is private or thin on LinkedIn?+
Sparse footprints are exactly what the gross-up is for. We recover roles LinkedIn misses using ZoomInfo and targeted web verification, then apply an empirical gross-up per function and widen the confidence band accordingly. Thin coverage lowers precision, not the ability to produce a defensible estimate. Where a company is genuinely dark, we tell you rather than guess.
What does it cost, and what if a run fails?+
Pricing scales with the number of companies and their size, quoted up front before any work begins. Most cohorts land in the low five figures. If a run fails to deliver a usable benchmark, there is no charge.
Get started

See where you really stand, in days.

Name the companies you want to benchmark. We size them from public data, suggest peers, and come back with a fixed quote before any work begins.

Start a benchmark → Estimate the cost first ›
No login. No charge if a run fails to deliver.
SG&A Benchmarking
Outside-in SG&A benchmarking from public data. Function-level headcount comparisons in days, not months.
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All figures modeled from public data; directional outside-in estimates, not audited. No charge if a run fails to deliver.