Apify Lead Hub

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The Bad Review Goldmine

Businesses with bad reviews are desperate for help. They'll pay you to fix their reputation.

500+ struggling businesses for $2

$2-5

Campaign cost

$500-2,000 per client

Per client

30 minutes to find leads

To find leads

Restaurants

Target audience

Find local businesses suffering from poor Google reviews, then offer reputation management, website redesigns, or marketing services. These owners are already in pain - you're the solution.

The Math

How this playbook turns into money

Spend

$2.50

Find

500 businesses

Response

3% reply rate

Close

5 clients

Earn

$5,000-10,000

Step-by-Step Process

1

Find businesses with bad reviews

Lead Hub

Use Google Maps Scraper to find local service businesses, then filter for those with 2-3 star ratings.

  • Search: "restaurants in [city]" or "plumbers in [city]"
  • Set max results to 200-500
  • Enable "Include reviews" option
  • Look for businesses with 2.0-3.5 star average

Pro Tip

Restaurants and home service businesses (plumbers, HVAC, roofers) respond best - they live and die by reviews.

2

Extract owner contact info

Lead Hub

Run the Contact Details Scraper on their websites to get email addresses and phone numbers.

  • Export website URLs from step 1
  • Paste into Contact Scraper
  • Extract emails, phones, and social links

Pro Tip

Many small business owners use personal Gmail addresses - these convert better than info@ emails.

3

Personalize your outreach

Smelt AI

Generic emails get ignored. Reference their specific pain point - their bad reviews.

  • Upload your lead CSV with business name, rating, and review count
  • Generate personalized opening lines that reference their specific situation
  • Each email mentions THEIR rating, THEIR review count

Pro Tip

Mentioning their exact star rating (e.g., "I noticed your 2.3 stars...") increases reply rates 3x vs generic outreach.

4

Send your outreach

Email Sender

Reach out with empathy - you're here to help, not criticize.

Subject: Quick question about {{business_name}} Hi {{first_name}}, I was looking for {{service_type}} in {{city}} and came across {{business_name}}. I noticed you're sitting at {{rating}} stars with {{review_count}} reviews. That's rough - especially when a few bad experiences can tank years of hard work. I help businesses like yours turn that around. Usually within 60-90 days, we can: - Get your rating above 4.0 stars - Push down negative reviews with fresh positive ones - Set up a system so happy customers actually leave reviews Would a quick call this week make sense? No pitch, just want to see if I can help. Best, [Your name]

Pro Tip

Call instead of email for businesses under 3 stars - they're more desperate and phone converts 5x better.

5

Close the deal

Manual Step

Offer a clear, results-based package.

  • Reputation repair package: $500-1,500 one-time
  • Ongoing reputation management: $200-500/month
  • Website + reputation bundle: $2,000-5,000
  • Guarantee: "4+ stars in 90 days or money back"

Pro Tip

Offer to show them a competitor with great reviews - "This is what you're losing customers to."

Scrapers Used in This Playbook