How to find clients as a freelancer: prospecting local businesses in Argentina
If you sell services to local businesses, waiting for referrals is not enough. Here is how I build a prospect list from Google Maps, how I prioritize it and how I write the first message, using the tool I built for the job.
If you are a freelancer or an agency selling to local businesses, what works is prospecting: pick an industry and an area, build a list of businesses that have a problem you solve, prioritize it and reach out one by one with a message about their business. It is not about sending hundreds of messages; it is about a well-built list, an honest first contact and organized follow-up.
Here is how I do it, with the tool I ended up building so I would stop doing it by hand: LeadsLocales.
What is local business prospecting?
It is B2B sales at its most concrete: you offer a service (web design, social media, photography, software, ads) and your clients are businesses in your area or anywhere in the country. Instead of waiting for referrals or for someone to find you, you go find them.
Both ways of getting clients work together. One is being found: having your own site rank well, which I cover in how to show up first on Google. The other is active prospecting, which is what this article is about. When you are just starting out, or entering a new industry, prospecting is what gets you work faster, because it does not depend on someone searching for you.
Why is Google Maps the best source of local prospects?
Because almost every business has a listing there, even if it has no website or active social accounts. And that listing has exactly what you need to prospect: category, address, phone, whether it has a website, rating, number of reviews and opening hours.
That data tells you not only who to write to, but also what to offer. A restaurant with hundreds of reviews and no website has an obvious problem. A hair salon that only has Instagram does too. A vet clinic with a website but a poor rating probably needs something else. The listing gives you the reason for your message.
How do you build a prospect list, step by step?
- Pick a niche: industry + area. "Shops" is not a niche; "dental practices in the southern suburbs" is. The more specific, the easier it is to write a message that sounds like them.
- Define the opportunity signal. What has to be true for your service to be useful: no website, social media only, a basic site, few reviews.
- Build the list. Name, industry, area, phone, email if available, website, rating and reviews. A spreadsheet is enough to start.
- Prioritize. At the top, businesses that show they are doing well (good rating, lots of reviews) and have the opportunity signal. A business with customers is a business that can invest.
- Write a personalized first message. Who you are, why you are writing to that business and what you propose, in a few lines. More on that in WhatsApp prospecting without spamming.
- Log everything and follow up. Who you wrote to, what they answered and when to write again. Without this, the list turns into chaos in two weeks. I explain how to keep it tidy in a simple CRM for small businesses and freelancers.
- Look at what works. After a few weeks you will see which industries and messages get more replies. Adjust your niche with your own numbers, not anyone’s promises.
Should you search by hand, buy a database or use a tool?
| Searching Google Maps by hand | Buying a generic database | Local prospecting tool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Your time. | Varies. | A subscription (some have a free plan). |
| Time per prospect | High: search, open the listing, copy the data. | Low, but the list needs cleaning. | Low: filter and the data is there. |
| Data quality | Good, you see it yourself. | You do not know where it came from or how current it is. | Depends on the tool: check where the data comes from and how often it is refreshed. |
| Opportunity signal | You work it out business by business. | Usually missing. | May come pre-classified (no website, social only, etc.). |
| Follow-up | Separately, in a spreadsheet. | Separately. | Sometimes includes a CRM. |
Buying databases of unclear origin can also get you in trouble with personal data laws. More on that below.
How did I solve it with LeadsLocales?
For a while I looked for clients exactly like that: Google Maps, a spreadsheet and WhatsApp. It was slow, so I built a tool that found businesses without a website and sorted them by rating and reviews. It is what I use to find my own clients, and I decided to open it up so anyone can use it: that is how LeadsLocales started.
Today it brings together Argentine businesses by industry and area, with their public contact details. Each business is classified by digital presence: No Site, Social Only, Basic Site or Own Site. You filter by area, industry, web status and rating, and you can share a search with a link. Contact details become available with monthly credits and stay yours even if you cancel. From the same place you get industry-specific WhatsApp and email messages and a CRM for follow-up.
See the LeadsLocales case studyWhat do I offer a business that has no website?
It is the most common opportunity in local prospecting, and the key is not to sell "a website" but what the website solves: being found on Google, no longer answering the same questions on WhatsApp, showing the menu or the services. If a business tells you "I already have Instagram", you will find arguments in why your business needs a website.
And when they ask how much it costs, have a clear answer ready: what defines the cost (how many pages, what content has to be prepared, which features it needs and who maintains it) and how soon you can send a fixed quote. I explain it in how much a website costs in Argentina. Every freelancer sets their own prices: what matters is that the business understands what it is paying for.
Is it legal to contact businesses I found on Google Maps?
It is a question you should ask yourself before you start. Argentina has a personal data protection law, and some business details (for example, the mobile number of a sole trader) may count as personal data. I am not a lawyer, so I will not tell you what you can do in your case: I recommend checking with a professional. What I can tell you is what I do: contact businesses one at a time, introduce myself by full name, explain where I got the contact if asked and never write again to anyone who says no.
Frequently asked questions
What is client prospecting?
It means going out to find clients instead of waiting for them to come. In practice: you choose which kind of business you can solve a problem for, build a list, sort it by priority and reach out one by one with a message written for each of them.
Where do I find local businesses to offer my services to?
Google Maps is the most complete source: almost every business has a listing with category, phone, website, rating, reviews and opening hours. You can search by hand or use a tool like LeadsLocales, which brings together Argentine businesses by industry and area with their public contact details.
Which businesses should I contact first?
The ones with a clear need you can solve and signs that they are doing well. If you build websites, for example, a business with a high rating, lots of reviews and no website of its own is a better prospect than one with no reviews.
How many businesses should I contact per day?
There is no magic number. It is better to write to a few, well, with a personalized message and organized follow-up, than to send lots of identical messages that end up blocked.
If you sell services to local businesses, try LeadsLocales to build your list. And if what you want is a platform like this one for your own business, I build those too.