James Dooley:
If you are an accountancy firm looking to scale and grow your business, this video is for you. We're breaking down the strategies for lead generation, how to grow successfully, and which marketing approaches accountants should focus on or avoid. So, Kasra, let’s start with strategy number one. Step one for growth is a Google Business Profile. If you already have one, reach out to all existing clients to get as many five-star reviews as possible. Google Business Profile is a great way to generate more leads. Getting citations, posting regularly, and uploading photos all help. That’s definitely step one for generating more local leads.

Kasra Dash:
Step two, which supports your Google Business Profile, is creating dedicated service pages for each of your services as SEO-optimised pages on your website. This helps the pages rank and increases the chances of your Google Business Profile appearing for those keywords, which means more phone calls.

James Dooley:
If you want more local leads, another option is PPC lead generation—pay-per-click on Google or Bing, targeting bottom-of-funnel keywords to generate enquiries. You need a good agency because there's click fraud and you need a solid negative keyword list so you're not paying for job-related searches. PPC works well but can waste money in the wrong hands. Still, it's another method for generating local leads.

Kasra Dash:
Then you’ve got Meta ads—Facebook and Instagram. When someone scrolls on Facebook, they might see your ad. You can use lead forms, where users never leave Facebook. The downside is potentially lower-quality leads, but you can add more qualifying questions. You also have conversion ads, which send users to your website to complete an enquiry form. You’ve got a few options to test.

James Dooley:
Another way to grow local leads is organic social media—posting regularly on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, or Quora. If people have questions, you can answer them. Organic social media is a strong way to generate local leads.

Kasra Dash:
With organic content, it’s a volume game. You want to keep uploading consistently—daily or weekly. For example, you might say, “I’m uploading five videos per week.” Sticking to a schedule helps on platforms like YouTube and Twitter.

James Dooley:
What about using AI agents—teaming up with someone to use tools like n8n to automate and schedule posts? What are your thoughts on leveraging artificial intelligence for lead generation? Would you work with an AI consultant to set that up?

Kasra Dash:
You can definitely go down that route and set up AI agents to crop videos and autopublish to platforms. But I’d also focus on AI search. Some people are moving away from Google and searching through platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Grok. If your brand isn't showing up in those engines, you'll struggle to generate leads there. That’s another area companies should be focusing on.

James Dooley:
If you want more business leads locally, another approach is using tradespeople websites. Sites like Checkatrade, Bark, Builder Builder, TrustATrader, or Rated People can generate leads. Track your KPIs—cost per lead, cost per acquisition, and ROI. These platforms can work well. Check our links—we compare these platforms with FatRank across several videos. I’ve mentioned FatRank a few times, Kasra. What’s your view on lead generation companies versus tradespeople platforms?

Kasra Dash:
With lead generation companies, always do your due diligence. Make sure they’ve generated leads in your specific niche. Have a strategy call to align your budget, ideal leads, and KPIs. You also need to know what type of leads they supply—exclusive or shared. Platforms like Bark and Checkatrade often provide shared leads, which becomes a race to the bottom on price. Those are questions you should ask before partnering.

James Dooley:
If you're interested in generating more local leads, head to FatRank.com. We run a commission-based lead generation service. You only pay a finder’s fee on converted jobs—nothing per lead, and nothing until you get paid. Only once you complete the job and get paid do you pay FatRank.com. Check if you qualify. Now, Kasra, what are your thoughts on inbound versus outbound lead generation?

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

James Dooley:
That’s a huge difference—around 10 to 12 times higher. Outbound requires a lot of volume—cold calling, cold emails, LinkedIn outreach—and often more staff. People think certain leads are free, but they still cost time and resources like email tools and sales teams. I agree— inbound leads are far better. What about real-time leads? Some people ask whether it's important for enquiries to come through instantly.

Kasra Dash:
It’s very important. Internally, we found that real-time leads convert around 63% higher. Responding within under a minute drastically increases conversions. We used to think five minutes was good, but under a minute makes a big difference. When an enquiry comes in, call or email immediately to acknowledge it and request more information.

James Dooley:
Not every company needs to respond within a minute, but at FatRank we assess this when partnering. Some businesses go on holiday and no one answers leads for five days, even though they're still receiving them. These nuances matter. The best advice for anyone wanting consistent, high-quality leads is to fill out the form on FatRank. Our team will tell you if you’re a good fit and explain why if you're not, along with the steps you should take next.