Simple and free way to find thousands of potential clients (called “leads”) in just a few minutes. If you are a freelancer, own an agency, or work as a marketer, this guide will help you grow your business easily.
What is a Lead?
A lead is a person or business that might become your customer in the future.
For example, if you edit videos, then someone looking for video editing services is a lead for you. A real estate agent wanting a real estate video is also a lead. Even the agent’s friends and people in similar businesses can be leads.
Lead generation means finding these people and collecting information like their name, business name, website, and email. Later, you can contact them and offer your services.
First Step: Choose Your Target
Before you start, decide which industry you want to focus on.
For example, you may want to find real estate agents in New York who need video editing services.
You can also choose other industries like dentists, hair salons, restaurants, and more.
First Free Method: Using Google Maps
- Open Google Maps.
- Search for the industry and location. For example: “Realtors in New York.”
- Click on each business you see.
- Visit their website and collect important details:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Business Name
- Social Media Links
- Email Address (Gmail)
- Write a small compliment for each business. For example, say something nice about their website.
This helps make your email more personal later. - Save all this information in an Excel sheet.
If you spend about 2 hours, you can collect 50 to 100 leads using this method.
Second Free Method: Using ChatGPT and Google Search
- Open Google and type this:
site:instagram.com "Realtors" New York "gmail.com"This search will find real estate agents in New York who listed their Gmail on Instagram. - Press Ctrl + A to select everything.
- Press Ctrl + C to copy it.
- Open ChatGPT and paste the copied text.
- Use a special prompt that helps ChatGPT clean the data and remove repeated entries. Here is the ChatGPT Promt: “Format the below data into a table, and create a column for Count, First Name, Last Name, Company name, Company website, Instagram Link, Email.”
- ChatGPT will create a CSV file.
- Copy the cleaned data and paste it into an Excel sheet.
You can use this method for any industry or location, like content writers, dentists, and many others.
You can also search other sites like Twitter or Facebook.
In about 30–40 minutes, you can collect hundreds or even thousands of leads!
Tools to Speed Up Lead Generation (Paid Options)
If you have a budget and want to save time, you can use paid tools like:
These tools quickly generate leads for you.
Reaching Out to Leads
Once you have your list, start sending emails.
To make people more likely to respond:
- Use their first name.
- Add the compliment you wrote about their business.
- Ask a genuine question.
- Introduce yourself and your business clearly.
- Tell them how you can help them.
- End the email with a call-to-action, like inviting them to book a meeting.
This makes your email feel personal and not like spam.
How to Send Many Emails Automatically
If you want to automate the process, you can use a paid tool like Lemlist (Note: This video is not sponsored by Lemlist).
Steps:
- Save your Excel file as a CSV.
- Open Lemlist and create a new campaign.
- Upload your CSV file.
- Match the information (like First Name, Email, and Compliment) to Lemlist’s system.
- Write your email and add 3–4 follow-up emails.
Follow-up timing:
- First follow-up: After 2 days
- Second follow-up: After 4 days
- Third follow-up: After 7 days
- (Optional) Fourth follow-up: After 14 days
Checking a preview helps make sure everything looks correct before sending emails.
Sending about 500 to 2,000 emails each month can help you book many calls and meetings.
Important Tips
- Cold emailing has an average response rate of about 8.5%.
- Out of every 100 emails you send, about 8 to 10 people might open it, and 1 or 2 might become your client.
Success depends on how strong your offer is.
Make sure your offer is so good that people cannot say no.
Final Words
Keep trying different things if something doesn’t work. What works for one person might not work for another. Always focus on learning and improving.
If you find this information helpful, share it with your friends!
