UK Lead Generation Podcast

James Dooley:
If you are a cleaning business looking for commercial cleaning leads and a way to generate and scale more of them, this video is for you. We’ve worked with many cleaning companies across the UK, and we’re going to break down what you should do — and what you shouldn’t — when building your marketing strategy. So, I’ll start with step one. To grow, you need a strong Google Business Profile. If you already have one, make sure you contact every existing client and ask for as many five-star reviews as possible. It’s one of the best ways to generate more leads. You should also build citations, publish Google Business posts, and upload photos. That’s the foundation I’d put in place for increasing local leads.

Kasra Dash:
Step two builds on your Google Business Profile. Create dedicated service pages for each service you offer, fully SEO-optimised on your website. This helps those pages rank, and it also increases the chance of your Google Business Profile appearing for the matching keywords. This indirectly brings in more calls.

James Dooley:
Another option for more local leads is PPC lead generation — pay-per-click through Google or Bing. You target bottom-of-funnel keywords to get more enquiries. The challenge is choosing the right agency because you need protection against click fraud and you must build a proper negative keyword list so you don’t get irrelevant enquiries such as job applications. PPC works well, but in the wrong hands it wastes money. Still, it’s a solid method when handled correctly.

Kasra Dash:
You’ve also got Meta ads — Facebook and Instagram. People may be scrolling and see your ad, and there are multiple ways to run these campaigns. One option is lead forms, where users never leave Facebook. It’s easy, but the lead quality can be low unless you add more qualifying questions. The other option is conversion ads, where people go to your website and fill out your form. Both methods work, depending on your strategy.

James Dooley:
Another approach for more local leads is organic social media: posting consistently on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, or Quora. These platforms can bring in new enquiries if you regularly answer questions and publish content.

Kasra Dash:
Organic social media is a volume game. You need consistency — daily or weekly uploads. You might commit to five videos a week and stick to it. Platforms like YouTube and Twitter reward this level of consistency.

James Dooley:
What are your thoughts on using AI agents? For example, teaming up with someone to use tools like n8n to automate and schedule social media posting. AI is everywhere now for lead generation. Would you work with an AI consultant to set this up?

Kasra Dash:
You can absolutely use AI agents to crop videos and autopublish to various platforms. But I’d also focus on AI search engines. Many people are beginning to shift away from Google and search through ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Grok. If your brand isn’t visible there, you’ll eventually struggle to generate leads. So you should optimise for AI search too.

James Dooley:
If you want more local business leads, another method is joining trades-people websites like Checkatrade, Bark, Builder Builder, Trust a Trader, or Rated People. These platforms can generate local leads, but you must track KPIs — cost per lead, cost per acquisition, and overall return on investment. We’ve made many comparison videos on these sites, so check the links in the description. And Kasra, what’s your perspective on lead-generation companies compared to these trades-people platforms?

Kasra Dash:
With lead-generation companies, you must do due diligence. Make sure they’ve generated leads in your specific industry before. Have a strategy call where you share your budget and target lead volume. You need to confirm whether leads are exclusive or shared. Shared leads, like those from Bark or Checkatrade, often result in a race to the bottom on pricing. These are important questions before partnering with any lead-generation provider.

James Dooley:
If you’re interested in more local leads, I highly recommend visiting fatrank.com. We offer commission-based lead generation — meaning you only pay a finder’s fee on converted jobs. There’s no cost per lead. You only pay after you’ve been paid by your customer. Visit fatrank.com to check if you qualify. Now, I want to expand further: what are your thoughts on inbound versus outbound lead generation?

Kasra Dash:
I always prefer inbound. The conversion rate is much higher — the last statistic I saw showed inbound at around 16.1% converting into paying customers, versus only 1.4% for outbound leads.

James Dooley:
That’s a huge difference.