The secret isn't just finding businesses. It's finding businesses that are already spending money on ads but doing it badly. Those are the easiest to close because they already believe in advertising. You just need to show them you'll do it better.
Claude Code searches the web, pulls business info, checks the Meta Ad Library to see who's running ads, and scores each prospect by how likely they are to say yes. All in one prompt.
Be specific. "Restaurants in the US" is useless. "Italian restaurants in Tampa, FL" is perfect.
Good niches to start with:
💡 Pick YOUR city first. Local businesses trust local people. "I'm based in Tampa and I help Tampa businesses" hits different than cold outreach from across the country.
Open Claude Code and paste this. Replace the brackets with your niche and city.
I'm building a prospect list for my ad agency. Find potential clients in the [NICHE] space in [CITY, STATE]. Do this: 1. Search for 50 [NICHE] businesses in [CITY, STATE] 2. For each one, get: business name, phone number, website URL, address, Google rating, number of reviews, whether they have a Facebook page (yes/no) 3. Check the Meta Ad Library (facebook.com/ads/library) to see which ones are currently running Facebook or Instagram ads 4. For businesses running ads, note: how many active ads, and whether the ads look good or bad 5. Score each prospect 1-5 based on this: - 5 = running ads but they look bad (easiest to close) - 4 = running ads, decent quality (might want better results) - 3 = has Facebook page but no ads (needs education) - 2 = no Facebook page, good reviews (potential but more work) - 1 = no online presence (skip) 6. Sort by score (5 first), then by Google rating 7. Only include businesses with 3.5+ stars and at least 20 reviews 8. Save as a CSV file: prospects/[city]-[niche]-[date].csv Build a markdown table first so I can review, then save the CSV.
Screenshot will be added here
💡 Why 3.5+ stars and 20+ reviews? Those businesses are established enough to have ad budget. A business with 3 reviews and 2 stars probably can't afford you.
This is how you prioritize who to contact first. Start from the top.
Two templates. Use the one that matches your prospect's score.
Hey [name], I was looking at [business]'s Facebook ads and noticed a few things that could probably cut your cost per lead in half. I work with [niche] businesses in [city] on their Meta ads. Would you be open to a 10-minute call where I walk you through what I'd change? No pitch, just showing you what I see.
💡 Why this works: You're leading with value, not a sales pitch. You already looked at their ads. That alone puts you ahead of 95% of cold outreach.
Hey [name], I help [niche] businesses in [city] get more customers through Facebook and Instagram ads. Most of your competitors are running them. [competitor name] has [X] ads live right now. Would it be worth a quick chat to see if it makes sense for [business]?
💡 Why this works: Mentioning a specific competitor by name creates urgency. They didn't know their competitor was running ads. Now they want to know more.
⚠️ Keep it short. Nobody reads a 5-paragraph cold message. 3-4 sentences max. If you can't say it in a text message, it's too long.
Don't do this once and forget about it. Make it a weekly habit.
Run the scraping prompt for a new city or niche. Get 50 fresh prospects.
Send 10-15 outreach messages to your highest-scored prospects.
Follow up with anyone who didn't respond Monday.
Second follow-up. Add new prospects from this week's list.
That's 40-60 outreach messages a week. Even with a 5% response rate, you're getting 2-3 calls a week. Close one a month and you're making money.
💡 Track everything. Add columns to your CSV for: outreach date, response (yes/no), notes, follow-up date. If you're not tracking, you're guessing.
Want to manually check a specific business? Go here:
Search by business name. If they have active ads, you can see every single one. What creative they're using, what copy, how long it's been running. Ads running for 60+ days are probably working. Ads that just started are tests.
🛑 Don't spam 200 people with the same generic message. Personalize every outreach. Mention their business name, their ads, their competitors. Copy-paste outreach gets ignored.
🛑 Don't pitch on the first message. Your goal is a 10-minute call, not a sale. Offer value first (free audit, free review, what you'd change). The sale happens on the call.
⚠️ Don't skip follow-ups. Most responses come on the 2nd or 3rd message, not the first. If you only message once, you're leaving money on the table.
⚠️ Don't target businesses with under 20 reviews. They're usually too small or too new to have ad budget. Focus on established businesses that can actually pay you.