Guide

Make a local customer list from a map in one afternoon

For this guide and its prompts we recommend:

Apify runs a ready-made map scraper and puts the public listing details of one kind of business into one table. Free plan with $5 credit per month (source)

Offers checked 21 Oct 2026

A short list of local businesses that fit your offer, taken from public map listings, checked by hand and ready for one personal message each.

What you need

One kind of business you can help, in one town or district
Apify and a spreadsheet
A chat assistant for the first draft of each message
Your own email address for sending, from your own mailbox

Recommended tools

ApifyThe public listings arrive in a tableFree plan

Steps

Choose one kind of business in one place
Write one sentence: who you help and where. For example: independent hair salons in one district. One kind and one place give a list you can really read, and the messages can be specific.
Weak
Find me customers.
Better
I help independent hair salons in one district book more appointments. Tell me what to check on each listing to know whether a salon fits this offer.
The prompt and the tool for this step
Run a ready-made map scraper
Use a ready-made map scraper from the Apify Store: enter the business type and the place, set a small limit such as thirty places and export the result to your spreadsheet. Take only what is public on the listing: name, category, address, website and the public business email or contact page if it is shown. Collect nothing else.
The prompt and the tool for this step
Check and cut the list by hand
Open each website and keep only the businesses that fit your offer. Delete closed places, chains and duplicates. A list of fifteen businesses you checked is worth more than three hundred rows you did not read.
Example
Columns: business, link, what I checked, fits (yes or no), one specific detail I noticed, date checked.
The prompt and the tool for this step
Write one message for each business you kept
Ask a chat assistant for a first draft that uses the specific detail from your column, then rewrite it in your own words, send it yourself and note the date. Write to business addresses only, say who you are and give a simple way to say no.
The prompt and the tool for this step
Connect the steps with your own automation tool
If you repeat this every week, your automation tool can move each new row of the scraper's export into the spreadsheet tab for the week. Keep the checking and the writing by hand.
The prompt and the tool for this step

The full instruction

Copy it into any chat assistant and fill in the brackets.

You help me write a first draft of a short message to a local business I found on a public map listing.

What I offer and to whom: [one sentence]
The business: [name, category, website]
One specific detail I noticed on their website or listing: [detail]

Write three lines:
1. One sentence about the specific detail, so it is clear I looked at their business.
2. One sentence about what I can do for a business like theirs, with no promised results.
3. One simple question they can answer with yes or no, and a polite way to say no thanks.

Use only the facts I pasted. If something is missing, write [MISSING?]. Do not invent numbers, reviews or names.

Start with the first line.

What you end up with

A checked list of local businesses that fit your offer and one personal message for each, written by you from a first draft, instead of a long list nobody reads.

Common mistakes

Collecting private or personal data instead of the public business details on the listing.
Sending the same message to a long list instead of a short checked list.
Writing to private addresses of people instead of business addresses.

Processes that need more than one tool

Each process below uses several tools, each for the job it does best. Any chat assistant works where one is named.

Choose one kind of business in one place
Tools, in order: a chat assistant → a spreadsheet
1. Write one sentence: who you help and where.
2. Ask a chat assistant what to check on a listing to know that a business fits your offer.
Recommended approach for this step: a chat assistant → a spreadsheet
Quality: a list of businesses that really fit your offer
The prompt for this process
```
I help [kind of business] in [place] with [what you offer].

List five things I can check on a public map listing or website to know whether a business fits this offer, and three signs that it does not fit (for example closed, a large chain, no website). Do not guess facts about any business; only describe what to check.

Start with the first thing to check.
```
Run a ready-made map scraper
Tools, in order: Apify → a spreadsheet
1. Open a ready-made map scraper in the Apify Store and enter the business type and the place.
2. Set a small limit, for example thirty places, and export the public details to your spreadsheet.
3. Take only public listing details: name, category, address, website, public business contact.
Recommended for this step: Apify
Time: the public listings arrive in a table instead of being copied one by one
The prompt for this process
```
Help me set up a small Apify run that lists public map listings.

Business type and place: [for example hair salons in one district]
Limit: thirty places
Where the result goes: [spreadsheet name]

Write the exact list of fields to collect (public business details only), the column names for my spreadsheet and a checklist of five things to confirm before the first run (small limit, public details only, no private data, test run first, plan to check by hand).

Start with the list of fields.
```
Check and cut the list by hand
Tools, in order: a spreadsheet → a chat assistant
1. Open each website and mark yes or no in the fits column.
2. Delete closed places, chains and duplicates.
3. Write one specific detail you noticed for each business you keep.
Recommended approach for this step: a spreadsheet → a chat assistant
Quality: fifteen checked businesses instead of three hundred unread rows
The prompt for this process
```
Help me check a list of local businesses by hand.

My offer: [one sentence]
My list: [paste the table with business, link]

For each business tell me what to open and look at on its website to fill the column "fits (yes or no)", and what is the one specific detail worth noting. Do not guess facts about any business; only tell me what to check. Mark missing facts as [MISSING?].

Start with the first business.
```
Write one message for each business you kept
Tools, in order: a chat assistant → a spreadsheet
1. Ask a chat assistant for a first draft that uses your specific detail.
2. Rewrite it in your own words, send it from your own mailbox to the business address and note the date.
Recommended approach for this step: a chat assistant → a spreadsheet
Money: a personal message that a business can answer quickly
The prompt for this process
```
Write a first draft of a short message to a local business.

What I offer: [one sentence]
The business: [name, category, website]
One specific detail I noticed: [detail]

Three lines: the detail, what I can do for a business like theirs with no promised results, and one question they can answer with yes or no, with a polite way to say no thanks. Use only the facts I pasted; mark missing facts as [MISSING?].

Start with line one.
```
Connect the steps with your own automation tool
Tools, in order: an automation tool → a spreadsheet
1. Let your automation tool move each new row of the scraper's export into the tab for the week.
2. Keep the checking and the writing by hand.
Recommended approach for this step: an automation tool → a spreadsheet
Time: new rows arrive in the right tab without copying
The prompt for this process
```
Help me connect the weekly steps.

Where the scraper's result lands: [spreadsheet and tab]
What I do by hand: check the list, write each message

Write a short checklist of the steps my automation tool does by itself (move each new row into the tab for the week) and the steps I keep by hand. Do not suggest sending messages automatically.

Start with the checklist.
```

This guide describes a result. These tools are one way to get there faster. Whether one pays for itself depends on your work, and we promise no result.

Apify - Apify is a web data collection platform: ready-made scrapers called Actors collect public prices, listings and reviews from websites on a schedule. In this guide it is used in “Run a ready-made map scraper”. Shop owners and analysts use it to watch competitor prices, product listings and public reviews, and the results arrive as a spreadsheet you can sort, without writing code.

Free plan with $5 credit per month (source, checked 21 Oct 2026)

Try The Tool

We recommend a specialised tool for each process rather than one tool that does everything. Tools that try to do everything rarely do any one job really well, because no single function gets perfected. It is the same in life, in business and in relationships: spread your attention over ten places and nothing gets done properly.

More: Make money online All guides

Make a local customer list from a map in one afternoon

What you need

Recommended tools

Steps

Choose one kind of business in one place

Run a ready-made map scraper

Check and cut the list by hand

Write one message for each business you kept

Connect the steps with your own automation tool