Open Lead Finder
Go to Lead Finder in the sidebar. This is the only place that generates new leads and spends search credits. Everything else (Hot, Saved, Pipeline, Map) works from leads you already generated or saved.
Start free trial →Step 1 — Pick an industry / service
Choose the contractor trade you sell into (Roofing, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, etc.). Match the industry to the offer you actually sell. Searching “General Contractor” when you only sell roofing SEO usually wastes credits on weak ICP fits.
Tip: If your niche is thin in a small city, try a related trade or widen geography before switching offers.
Step 2 — Choose a Tier-1 country
Supported countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Country must match the market you can legally and operationally sell into. Mixing US cities under UK country returns poor or empty results.
Step 3 — Set location scope
Two modes:
- Entire country — maximum breadth; good for national offers or first market scans
- Specific area — region/state, city, or postal code + radius when you sell locally
Tip: Start local if your case studies are city-based. Use Entire country when you need volume and can dial nationwide.
Step 4 — Result size and credits
You can only generate as many leads as your credit balance allows (1.33 credits ≈ 1 lead slot). Unexported leads also count against that limit. Viewing is free; export spends credits. Example: 100 credits ≈ 75 leads — you cannot generate 200 until you export or buy more.
- Credits are spent on returned leads, not on empty curiosity clicks
- Re-running the same search again spends credits again — save keepers instead
- Out of credits (402) means stop searching until Billing / admin restores balance
Step 5 — Read the results grid
Each row is a business with score tier (Hot / Warm / Nurture), rating signals, and key contacts when available. Open a row for the full detail page before you decide to save or skip.
- Hot — call / email today
- Warm — solid follow-up this week
- Nurture — keep for later or skip if capacity is low
When search returns nothing
Widen geography, check city spelling, try Entire country, switch to a related industry, or confirm Tier-1 country. Do not burn credits by rapidly retrying the identical empty query.
Tip: Platform-side Google Places errors need a site admin to fix GOOGLE_PLACES_API_KEY / billing — Academy cannot unlock that for you.
After a good search
Save keepers → open Hot Leads for the daily list → email from detail → move stages in Pipeline. That is the standard desk loop.
Start free trial →