One way to use Local Lead Finder. Local Lead Finder is a $10 Google Sheets template I built that turns any Google Maps search into a lead list: every business, with phone, website, rating and reviews. This post is one use case for it: finding bookkeeping clients. I’m not a bookkeeper; this is the playbook I’d follow if I were, run for real with the template. Other ways to use it are listed at the end, or see all 18 lead generation ideas.
If I were starting a bookkeeping side business in Boise, I wouldn’t start with a website. You can do the books. The hard part is how to get bookkeeping clients when nobody knows you yet. Search for it and page 1 is new bookkeepers on Reddit and Facebook asking the same question, plus lists of 17 or 20 strategies from companies that sell software to bookkeepers: build a website, ask for referrals, post on LinkedIn, teach a free class at the chamber of commerce. All fine. None of them tell you which businesses to call.
So here’s exactly what I’d do this week. I’d pick one trade, plumbers, and find every small one in town. I ran it for real with Local Lead Finder, a $10 Google Sheet I built that pulls every business on Google Maps into a spreadsheet. By the end you’ll have 98 Boise plumbers, the 25 small ones a plain Google Maps search never showed me, and the message I’d send them.
TL;DR
- One “plumber” search across 42 Boise areas found 98 plumbers, and 25 of them have under 20 Google reviews.
- A plain Google Maps search stopped at 18 non-sponsored plumbers, and the smallest had 70 reviews, so you need one search per neighborhood.
- Don’t treat every row as a plumber: Ogata Construction Co sits in the small list, so check names before you call.
Who this is for
- Freelance bookkeeper: you get a list of small local plumbers with phone numbers, instead of waiting for referrals.
- Someone starting a bookkeeping side business: you get your first 25 calls in one niche, which is easier to pitch than “small businesses”.
- Bookkeeper for trades businesses: you get every plumber in the area, sorted so the smallest ones come first.
- Virtual assistant: small plumbers with a handful of reviews are likely doing their own invoices, scheduling and follow-ups.
- Answering service owner: a one-truck plumber is probably answering the phone from under a sink, and this list finds them.
Before you start
- A Google Places API (New) key
- Local Lead Finder set up in your Google Drive
- Local Lead Finder itself
- One trade to focus on, like plumbers
- A city, like Boise, Idaho
- A short outreach message that says what you do and asks one question
Don’t have a Places API key yet? How to get one free. Haven’t set up the sheet? Setup takes 5 minutes.
Niche down to one trade
“I do bookkeeping for small businesses” is hard to say yes to. “I do the books for plumbers” is easy to remember, and once you know how one plumber invoices, you know how the next one does.
I picked plumbers because I’d already run them in Boise. Pick whatever trade you know or like. The rest of this works the same.
The run: 98 plumbers in Boise
In SETTINGS I typed the region, Boise, Idaho, and ran Find Areas. It turned that into 42 areas: Boise, Meridian, Eagle, Garden City, Kuna, and Boise neighborhoods like the North End, Collister and Barber Valley. Then I ran Search in All AREAS with “plumber”. The sheet searches “plumber in [area]” for each one and removes duplicates.
98 plumbers. I also typed in the 18 non-sponsored plumbers from a plain Google Maps search and checked which ones the sheet found:
All 98 have a phone number. 16 list no website.
The 25 small plumbers Google Maps never showed me
Here’s what a plain Google Maps search for “plumber in Boise, ID” looked like when I scrolled to the bottom:
It loaded 20, 2 of them sponsored, and then the spinner just sat there. The fewest reviews on any plumber in that list was 70 (Hyde Park Plumbing). Those are established businesses. They probably already have a bookkeeper, or an office manager who does it.
The small ones turned up in the neighborhood searches. Almost all of them came from an area other than plain “Boise”. Here are the plumbers in the sheet with fewer than 20 reviews:
=QUERY('plumber (AREAS)'!A1:J99,"select A, D, E, J where A is not null and E < 20 order by E desc",1)
25 plumbers with under 20 reviews, and 14 of them are rated 5.0. Another 5 have no reviews at all. A few from the list: Champion Plumbing LLC (19 reviews), Boise Plumbing & Drain Clean Co (17), Goodrich Plumbing Idaho (14), Ace Plumber Meridian (8) and Alpha Plumbing (8).
“You have to go out and get them.” (Paul Graham, Do Things that Don’t Scale)
Graham is talking about a startup’s first users, but your first bookkeeping clients work the same way: they won’t find you, so a list of 25 names is where going out to get them starts.
Why small plumbers are probably doing their own books
To be clear, this part is my guess, not something the sheet knows. The sheet knows how many Google reviews each plumber has. It doesn’t know who does their books.
But few reviews usually means small or new. A plumber with 8 reviews is likely one or two people, working jobs all day and doing invoices and receipts at night. That’s who I’d want as a bookkeeping client: busy enough to need help, too small to have hired anyone yet.
The plumbers at the top of Google Maps, with 70 reviews and up, are the opposite. They’re the ones every other bookkeeper is already calling.
Clean it before you use it
- Ogata Construction Co is in the under 20 list. It came back from the “Basque Block” search. It may do plumbing; it’s not called a plumber. Check names that don’t fit before you call.
- Some ratings are low. Precision Plumbing & Mechanical has a 1.0 from 2 reviews. That doesn’t make it a bad lead, but read the reviews before you call so nothing surprises you.
- No website isn’t a dead end. 16 of the 98 list no website, so they won’t have a contact form. All 98 have a phone number.
The message
In SETTINGS there’s a WhatsApp message that gets attached to every row’s link. This is what I’d send:
Hi! Small trades businesses lose evenings to invoices and receipts. I do the books for plumbers around Boise for a flat monthly fee. Who does your books right now?
Short, says what you do, asks one question. If they say “me, at night”, you’ve got a conversation.
Then work down the list, smallest first. Every time you message someone, mark them Outreached. They turn green and stay green in every future search, so you never message the same plumber twice.
Step by step
- Get a free Google Places API key (how) and set up Local Lead Finder (about 5 minutes).
- Pick one trade. I used plumbers.
- Type your region in SETTINGS and run Find Areas (Boise, Idaho gave me 42 areas). Untick any areas you don’t want.
- Run Search in All AREAS with your trade as the keyword. The sheet shows the most the search could cost before it runs.
- Filter to under 20 reviews with the QUERY above to find the small and new businesses.
- Clean the list: check names that don’t fit the trade, and read low ratings before you call.
- Set your message in SETTINGS, then call or message the small ones first.
- Mark each one Outreached so it stays green in every future search.
The same filter works for any trade
Nothing here is special to plumbers. Swap the keyword for electrician, HVAC, roofer, landscaper or house cleaner, run it in your own city, and filter to under 20 reviews. You’ll get the same kind of list: small businesses that a plain Maps search doesn’t show you, and that probably don’t have a bookkeeper yet.
Common pitfalls
- Stopping when the Maps list stops: my Maps search loaded 20 plumbers, 2 of them sponsored, and the smallest had 70 reviews. Almost all of the small ones came from the neighborhood searches, not the plain “Boise” one.
- Pitching “small businesses” in general: pick one trade. “I do the books for plumbers” is easier to say yes to than a pitch for everyone.
- Calling names that don’t fit: Ogata Construction Co came back from the “Basque Block” search and sits in the small list. Check names like that before you call.
- Assuming no website means no business: 16 of the 98 list no website. All 98 have a phone number, so call or text them.
- Treating the guess as a fact: few reviews suggests small or new, not “has no bookkeeper”. Ask who does their books instead of assuming.
- Not marking Outreached: if you don’t, your next search won’t show who you already messaged. Marked rows turn green in every future search.
- Running big regions without checking the cost: each area is one Places API request per results page, so 42 areas was 42 requests.
Learn the Google Sheets formulas in this post
- How To Sort A Filter: sorting a filtered list, like the under 20 reviews QUERY sorted by reviews.
- 3 Ways to Count in Google Sheets: the counting behind the summary, like 25 under 20 reviews and 16 with no website.
- Fabulous Filters: more ways to pull just the rows you want, like small plumbers or ones with no website.
- How to Create a CRM in google sheets w/ Dashboard: a next step for tracking which plumbers you called and what they said.
- Make a Quick Pipeline (For Sales and More): for moving plumbers from “messaged” to “call booked” to “client”.
Better Sheets has hundreds more tutorials like these. If you want to get better at Google Sheets, join Better Sheets.
Other ways to use Local Lead Finder
- Where to Get Local Leads: Google Maps showed 20 plumbers, the sheet found 98: for anyone choosing where their leads come from.
- How Many Small Businesses Don’t Have a Website? Real counts from 4 cities: for web designers and marketers who want real numbers.
- How to Get More Google Reviews for Local Businesses (side business): for reputation and local SEO freelancers looking for local clients.
- How to Get Junk Removal Jobs: Minneapolis rental managers: for junk haulers who want move-out cleanouts every month.
All 18, grouped by who they’re for: Lead generation ideas: 18 local businesses to sell to.
FAQ
How do I get my first bookkeeping clients?
Pick one trade, build a list of the small ones in your city, and message them directly. In Boise, one “plumber” search across 42 areas gave me 98 plumbers, and 25 had under 20 Google reviews. Those small ones are where I’d start.
Why focus on plumbers with few Google reviews?
Few reviews usually means small or new, and small trades businesses are the ones most likely to be doing their own books at night. That’s an inference from size, not something the sheet knows, so ask who does their books before you pitch.
How do I sell to small businesses that never show up on Google Maps?
They are on Google Maps, just not in the first 20 results. My plain Maps search stopped at 18 non-sponsored plumbers, the smallest with 70 reviews. Searching every neighborhood found 82 more, including all 25 small ones.
What should my message to a plumber say?
Say what you do, keep it short, and ask one question. Mine: “Hi! Small trades businesses lose evenings to invoices and receipts. I do the books for plumbers around Boise for a flat monthly fee. Who does your books right now?”
Does this work for other trades?
Yes. Swap “plumber” for electrician, HVAC, roofer or any other trade, run it in your city, and filter to under 20 reviews.
What does Local Lead Finder cost to run?
The sheet is $10, and free for Better Sheets lifetime members. Searches run on your own Google Places API (New) key, and Google gives up to 1,000 searches a month free. Each area is one request per results page, so my 42 areas was 42 requests.
Is this a scraper?
No. It uses Google’s official Places API with your own key. The first run asks you to authorize the script in Google, and setup takes about 5 minutes.
Get the sheet
Local Lead Finder is $10, and free for Better Sheets lifetime members.
