Local business prospecting for service providers

Decide the maximum distance you are willing to travel or serve, and use it as the radius in a search (the maximum is 50 km). If your area is a ring around several towns, run one search per town so you do not lose businesses at the edges.

List the business types that benefit from what you do and search one at a time. An IT support firm, for example, might search offices and clinics separately because the pitch is different. The Other option lets you enter a custom business type when none of the standard ones fit.

Review the results for free, sort by rating and shortlist businesses that look established and close. Unlock the ones you will actually contact. Each unlocked business is added to your CRM, where you can add a contact once you learn it.

Work one area until you have contacted the good fits, then move to the next. The CRM records the search behind each lead, so you can tell which areas and categories are done. For a more general approach see how to find local business prospects.

An IT support firm serves small offices within about 15 km. It searches for clinics, then separately for accountancy firms, each with a 15 km radius from its office. It browses both lists for free, unlocks the businesses closest to its base, and adds a contact name in the CRM when it speaks to someone. Over time the CRM shows which categories respond best to that firm, which guides the next search.

Circles overlap awkwardly with real service areas. If your territory is a long strip along a road or a ring of towns, run a search around each town with a radius that slightly overlaps its neighbour. Unlocking a business you have already unlocked does not charge you again, so the overlap costs nothing but a little browsing time.