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Find new leads on Google Maps

Search Google Maps for businesses by kind and area, research their websites with or without AI, and add the right ones as leads.

Guide 6303Updated

The Lead generation app finds businesses you could sell to. Say what kind of business and where, for example "interior designers" in "Kakkanad", and it lists them from Google Maps with their rating, phone and website. It can then read each business's website, with AI if you like, and add the ones you choose as leads.

Owners, admins and managers can use it. Open Lead generation under Apps in the left menu, or from the Apps gallery.

The Lead generation app
The Lead generation app

Before you start: the Google Maps key

The app searches Google Maps with your workspace's own Google key, and Google bills that key's project for each search. An owner or admin adds the key once:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, pick or make a project and turn on billing.
  2. Under APIs & Services → Library, enable Places API (New).
  3. Under Credentials, make an API key and restrict it to Places API (New).
  4. In the app, paste the key into API key under Connect Google Maps and click Check and save. The CRM makes one small test search to check it.

The key is kept sealed and never shown again. Once it is saved, the app shows how many Google requests have been used this month out of the limit. An owner or admin can click Monthly limit to change the limit (a search that would go past it is refused), or Change key.

Search for businesses

  1. Under Find businesses, keep Search chosen.
  2. Fill in What kind of business, and Where. Separate several kinds or places with commas: each kind is searched in each place, up to ten searches. The searches are shown as chips below.
  3. Choose the Country, and how many Results per search: up to 20, 40 or 60. Each 20 is one Google request.
  4. Narrow the results if you like: Google rating at least, Reviews at least, and the ticks Has a phone number, Has a website, Still open for business and Leave out ones already in the CRM.
  5. Click Search Google Maps. The line beside the button shows how many Google requests the search can use at most.

The businesses are listed on the right. A business your CRM already has, by its phone or website, says Already in CRM, with the record's number.

Let AI plan the searches

Not sure what to search for? Click With AI, describe the customers you want in Describe the customers you want, for example "established dental clinics around Kochi that would want online booking", and click Plan the searches. AI suggests up to ten searches and fitting filters. Remove any you do not want with the cross, or add your own, then click Search Google Maps.

AI uses your workspace's Tic Buddy key. If Tic Buddy is not switched on under Settings → Tic Buddy, the plain search still works.

Look at the results

  • Sort them with Best fit first, Best rated first, Most reviews first or By name.
  • Click a business to see its address, its Map and Website links, and which search found it.

Research the businesses

Research reads each business's own website, the home page and up to two contact or about pages, for its emails, phone numbers and social links.

  1. Tick the businesses to research, or none to research all that are not researched yet.
  2. Tick with AI for an AI summary as well. You see it only when Tic Buddy is switched on.
  3. Click Research. The button says how many it will research, or Research the rest. You can Stop at any time.

With AI, each business also gets a Fit score out of 100 with the reason, its services, the people named on the site, the best email and a suggested Opening line for your first message. Results are then sorted by best fit.

Add businesses as leads

  1. Tick the businesses you want, or Choose all.
  2. Click Add as leads.
  3. Choose who is Responsible, the Stage (the first stage if you leave it), and a Tag (it starts as "lead finder").
  4. Click Add as leads.

Each lead gets the business's phone, best email, website, address and fit score, with the source "Google Maps", and its research as a comment on its timeline. A business already added is marked Added with its lead number and cannot be added twice.

Your workspace's searches are kept under Earlier searches. Click one to open it again.

  • Undo: remove the leads this search added moves the leads it added to the Recycle bin. Leads that were in the CRM before are not touched.
  • Forget this search removes the list of businesses and their research. Leads it added stay.

Only the person who ran a search, or an owner or admin, can undo or forget it.

Next steps