Lead Finder
What it is
The Lead finder (in the sidebar under Sales) searches Google for businesses. You choose:
- a kind of business: "dentists", "wedding planners", "gyms";
- a place: "Austin, TX";
- how far around it to look (1 to 50 km).
A few moments later you get a list. Each business shows its phone number, website, rating, number of reviews and a score out of 100. You tick the ones worth a conversation and add them to your contacts, and optionally open a deal for each in your pipeline.
It needs a plan that includes Lead Finder.
The problem it solves
If you sell to other businesses, finding who to talk to is slow: searching maps, copying names and phone numbers into a spreadsheet, then deciding who is worth a call. The Lead finder does the searching and copying, ranks the results, and drops the good ones straight into the tools you already use (contacts and deals), so your time goes into the conversations.
How it works
- You run a search. Threadline finds the place, then asks Google Places for up to three pages (about 60) of matching businesses. Businesses that are permanently closed are left out, and each business appears once.
- Threadline scores each one from what the search itself knows.
- You tick the leads you want and choose a channel (and optionally a pipeline stage).
- Threadline adds them as contacts and, if you chose, as deals.
1. Before the first search
Searches run on a Google key. You have two ways:
- Use your own key. Press Google key on the page and paste a key from Google Cloud Console with Places API (New) switched on. Google bills your own Google Cloud project for each search, so set a budget alert there. A key you add always wins over a shared one.
- Use the platform's key, if the person who runs your installation chose to share one. Then your plan's lead credits apply.
The key is stored encrypted and only Admins can set it.
2. Running a search
- Fill in Kind of business, Where and Within (the distance).
- Press Search.
- The search appears under Recent searches and shows waiting, then done. The page refreshes by itself while it works.
- Click a search to see its results on the right.
Lead credits
Your plan may limit lead credits per month. One credit is used for each business found. A line at the top says how many leads you found this month. A search stops when the credits run out (and says so), and is refused if you have none. The count starts again each month.
If a search fails
A failed search says why in plain words, and keeps anything already found:
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Quota used up | Google's limit for that key was reached. | Wait, or raise the limit in Google Cloud. |
| Key refused | Places API (New) is not switched on for the key, or the key is wrong. | Fix the key. |
| Place not found | Google could not find the place you typed. | Try a city or a full address. |
| Stopped at your lead credits | Your plan's allowance ran out. | Wait for next month or upgrade. |
| Unreachable | Google could not be reached. | Try again later. |
3. Scores
A result's score comes from what the search alone knows: whether it has a phone number, its rating, how many reviews it has, and whether it has a website. It is a guide to who looks active and reachable, not a promise of a sale.
Once a business becomes a deal, the full lead score you set up under Deals, Lead scoring takes over, and the search signals (rating, reviews, website) count towards it.
4. Adding leads to contacts and deals
- Tick the results you want.
- Press Push to contacts.
- Choose the channel they should belong to (a WhatsApp or SMS channel).
- Optionally choose to open a deal for each, and in which stage.
- Confirm.
Threadline reports how many were added and how many were skipped. A result is skipped if it has no phone number, was already added, or you would go over your plan's contact limit. A person who is already one of your contacts keeps the consent they have.
The compliance rule
Businesses found by a search have not agreed to be messaged. So:
- They are added with consent switched off.
- They cannot be chosen for a campaign until you record that they opted in (for example after they reply and say yes).
- A person already in your contacts keeps their consent.
This protects your WhatsApp number, which can be limited or banned if you message people who did not ask to hear from you. How you contact someone one-to-one is your call under your local law; unsolicited bulk campaigns are what this rule keeps you out of.
Good to know
- Deleting a search removes its results, not the contacts and deals you already added.
- A search covers one place at a time. Searching several places at once and repeating searches on a schedule are not available.
- Leads found here are kept with their rating, review count and website so lead scoring can use them.
Common questions
Why can I not add a lead to a campaign? Its consent is off. Record that they agreed, from their contact profile, once they have.
The results have no phone numbers. Google does not list one for those businesses. They are skipped when pushing.
How much does a search cost? With your own key, Google bills your project. With a shared key, it uses your plan's lead credits.