UK Lead Generation Podcast

Kasra Dash:
So if you install air conditioners and you want to win more work, this video is for you. Myself and James, we deal with a lot of companies that install ACs and HVAC as well. And we are going to break down exactly what you should be doing when it comes to lead generation and generating more enquiries on a day-to-day basis. So James, take it away.

James Dooley:
So step number one, what I'd be looking to do to grow is a Google Business Profile. If you already have one, I'd be reaching out to all my existing clients to get as many five-star reviews as possible. Google Business Profile is a great way to generate more leads. There’s also getting citations, doing Google Business Profile posts and uploading photos. That’s definitely step one to generate more local leads.

Kasra Dash:
Step number two, to support your Google Business Profile, I'd be creating dedicated service pages for each of your services as SEO-optimised pages on your website. When you do that, it helps those pages rank, and it also increases the likelihood that your Google Business Profile shows up for those keywords. So you're indirectly going to get more phone calls.

James Dooley:
For sure. If you're looking for more local leads, another option is PPC lead generation. That’s pay-per-click within Google or Bing, targeting bottom-of-funnel keywords to generate enquiries. The difficult part is making sure you team up with a good PPC agency because there is click fraud, and you need to build a negative keyword list so you don’t get people applying for jobs. PPC can work well, but in the wrong hands you can waste a lot of money. But it's another way to generate local leads.

Kasra Dash:
Yeah. And after that you've also got Meta ads — Facebook and Instagram. The next time someone goes on Facebook, they might see your ad. There are different ways to set these up. Option A is lead forms — really easy and the user never leaves Facebook. But the quality might not be great, though you can add more questions to improve it. Then you've also got conversion ads, where they go to your website and fill out the contact form. So you’ve got a couple of different options.

James Dooley:
For sure. Another way to grow local leads is organic social media. Posting regularly on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram. Reddit and Quora are big as well. Organic social media is another great way to generate more local leads.

Kasra Dash:
With organic social media, it's more of a volume game. You want to make sure you're constantly uploading—daily or weekly. You might say, "I’ll upload five videos a week," and stick to that, especially for algorithms like YouTube and Twitter.

James Dooley:
Yeah, for sure. What’s your thoughts on using AI agents to automate and schedule posts, like using N8N? Would you team up with an AI consultant to set that up?

Kasra Dash:
You can definitely set up AI agents to crop videos and autopublish across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. But I’d also focus on AI search. People are slowly moving from Google into engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok. If your brand isn’t showing up there, you'll struggle to generate leads on those engines. That’s another thing I'd focus on.

James Dooley:
If you're looking for more business leads locally, I'd look at trades-people websites — Checkatrade, Bark, Builder Builder, TrustATrader, Rated People. These platforms can generate more local leads. Track your KPIs to see ROI. Track cost per lead, cost per acquisition and return on investment. These platforms can work really well. Check the links in the description — we compare Checkatrade with FatRank, Bark with FatRank, Rated People with FatRank and Builder Builder with FatRank. Kasra, what’s your thoughts on lead generation companies compared to trades-people platforms?

Kasra Dash:
With lead generation companies, you want to do your due diligence. Make sure that if you’re in a specific niche, that company has actually generated leads in that industry before. Have a strategy call with them. Share your budget, how many leads you want, and see if your KPIs align. You also need to know what type of leads they provide — exclusive leads or shared leads. Shared leads, like Bark or Checkatrade, often create a race to the bottom, where everyone competes on price. Those are the questions I'd ask before partnering with a lead generation company.

James Dooley:
For sure. If anyone is interested in generating more local leads, head over to FatRank.com where we have a commission-based lead generation service. You only pay a finder’s fee on converted jobs. You pay nothing per lead. You only pay when you get paid — on a pay-per-sale basis after completing the job. Head over to FatRank.com to see whether you qualify. Now, I want to expand further — what are your thoughts on inbound lead generation versus outbound?

Kasra Dash:
I always prefer inbound. The conversion rate from lead to paying customer is much higher. The last stat I saw was around 16.1% conversion for inbound compared to 1.4% for outbound.

James Dooley:
That's crazy — around 10–12 times more conversion.

Kasra Dash:
Yeah. Outbound, like cold calling, cold email or LinkedIn Sales Navigator, needs a lot more volume and often more staff. People think outbound is free, but email sending costs, and sales team costs add up. Inbound is much better.

James Dooley:
What are your thoughts on real-time leads? Is it important that as soon as they enquire, it comes through immediately?

Kasra Dash:
It's very important. The last internal stat we saw showed real-time leads convert around 63% higher. We found that responding in under a minute performed best. We used to think five minutes was good, but under one minute is better — ring or email quickly to get more information.

James Dooley:
Not every company needs to respond in under a minute, but it’s something we look at when partnering with businesses. Some business owners are away for five days and have nobody picking up the leads while we’re still providing them. All these nuances matter. The best thing I’d recommend to anyone wanting to scale and get a consistent flow of high-quality leads is: fill out the form at FatRank. The team will tell you if you're the right fit, and if you're not, they'll explain why and what to do next.