Prospecting Tool in HighLevel

Updated: February 4, 2026  | 
Author: Bill Stilwell

This post covers how the Prospecting Tool works, what the audit report includes, how to use it for outbound and inbound lead generation, and how to embed it on your website.

Reading time: about 8 minutes.

What Is the Prospecting Tool in HighLevel?

The Prospecting Tool is an agency-level feature built to help you find and approach potential clients.

You search for local businesses by keyword and location – for example, “dentist” in “Austin TX.” HighLevel returns a list of matching businesses with basic profile information. You select one, generate a marketing audit report, and use that report as the foundation of your outreach.

The concept is straightforward: instead of sending a cold email that says “we help businesses grow,” you send a free audit that shows a specific business exactly where their online presence has gaps. That report makes the problem concrete and positions your agency as the solution before the first conversation happens.

Find it in Agency view under Prospecting in the left navigation.

What the Audit Report Covers

The audit report analyzes a business’s publicly visible online presence across several key areas.

Google Business Profile shows whether the listing is claimed, how complete the profile is, the current review count, and the average star rating. An unclaimed or incomplete GBP listing is an immediate, easy-to-explain opportunity for an agency.

Website Performance gives the business a score based on publicly measurable factors including mobile responsiveness, load speed, and basic technical health. A low score is a conversation starter that does not require the prospect to understand SEO to feel the impact.

SEO shows basic search visibility indicators – whether the site ranks for its primary terms, how many pages are indexed, and whether there are obvious technical issues.

Social Media shows which platforms the business has a presence on and flags any that are missing, inactive, or unlinked from their main profile.

Online Reviews aggregates review counts and ratings across platforms. Businesses with few reviews, poor ratings, or no recent reviews have a clear gap the agency can address through a reputation management service.

Each section gets a grade. The overall score gives the prospect a single number they can react to – which is exactly the kind of hook that opens a conversation.

Using It for Outbound Prospecting

The outbound workflow is simple. Search for businesses in your target niche and location, generate a report for each one that looks like a viable prospect, and send it with a personalized note.

The personalization matters. The strongest outreach messages reference one or two specific findings from the report rather than attaching it generically.

If the report shows a business has 12 Google reviews against a local average of 80, that number belongs in your opening line.

The report does the heavy lifting of establishing credibility. You are not claiming to be an expert – you are showing them data about their own business that they may not have known.

Using It for Inbound Lead Generation

The Prospecting Tool has an embeddable widget. Drop it on your agency website – on a page titled “Free Marketing Audit” or similar – and let visitors run their own audit by entering their business name and location.

When a business submits their details through the embedded tool, you receive a notification. Their branded report is already generated and waiting.

Reaching out within a few hours – while they are still thinking about what they saw in the report – dramatically improves response rates.

This turns your agency website into a lead generation tool rather than a digital brochure. The audit request is a warm signal – a business that asked for an audit already knows they have gaps they want addressed.

White-Label Branding

Every audit report generated through the Prospecting Tool is branded with your agency details – your name, logo, and colors.

The prospect never sees HighLevel’s name on the report. As far as they know, you built the audit tool yourself.

This is important for agencies running a white-labeled platform, where maintaining the perception of a proprietary system is part of the positioning.

Confirm your agency branding is configured in Agency Settings before running your first searches – the branding is baked into every report at generation time.

What Can You Do With It?

• Approach cold prospects with something valuable: Send a free branded audit instead of a pitch. The report gives the prospect a reason to open your email and a specific reason to respond.
• Generate inbound audit requests from your website: Embed the tool on a Free Audit page and turn your website into a lead capture system that works while you are not actively prospecting.
• Qualify prospects before outreach: Generate the report before contacting anyone. If a business scores well across all categories, they may not need your services right now – focus your time on the ones with clear, visible gaps.
• Use the report in a discovery call: Walk through the audit findings with the prospect on a screen share. The data becomes the agenda for the call rather than a generic pitch presentation.
• Identify niche patterns in your target market: After generating reports for 20 plumbers in your area, you will see common weaknesses across the niche. That pattern becomes the basis for a niche-specific service package and marketing message.
• Follow up with inbound requests within hours: A business that requested an audit is in an active research mindset. Responding within a few hours while their interest is high is the difference between booking a call and being forgotten.

Key Definitions

Use Cases by Industry

Digital Marketing Agencies

A digital marketing agency targets home service businesses – plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies – in their metro area. They search for each business type using the Prospecting Tool, filter for businesses with low review counts and poor GBP scores, and send 10 to 15 personalized audit reports per week.

The outreach message leads with the review gap: “We ran a quick audit on [Business Name] and noticed you have 8 Google reviews against a local average of 65 for HVAC companies in [City].” Response rates are significantly higher than generic cold email.

Result: Outreach is targeted, personalized, and backed by data – which separates the agency from every other cold email the prospect receives.

Local SEO Agencies

An SEO agency embeds the Prospecting Tool on their website under a “Free Website Audit” page. They run Google Ads targeting searches like “how does my website rank” and “free SEO audit” that drive traffic directly to the audit page.

Every business that submits their details is a warm lead who self-identified an interest in their online visibility. The agency follows up within two hours using the generated report as the starting point for a sales conversation.

Result: The agency has a steady pipeline of inbound leads at a cost-per-lead significantly lower than outbound cold calling or generic ad campaigns.

Reputation Management Services

A reputation management agency uses the Prospecting Tool to identify businesses with fewer than 20 reviews or an average rating below 4.0. These metrics are visible in the audit report and represent the exact problem the agency solves.

Their outreach message references the specific numbers: “Your restaurant has 14 Google reviews with a 3.6 average. Competitors within a mile have 200 reviews at 4.5.

Here is what that means for customers choosing where to eat tonight.” The report makes the case for them before any pitch is made.

Result: The agency fills its pipeline with pre-qualified prospects who have an obvious, demonstrable problem the service directly addresses.

Website Design and Development

A web design agency targets local businesses with website performance scores below 50. The audit report’s website section identifies slow load times, mobile issues, and missing technical elements – the exact work the agency delivers.

They send 20 audits per week targeting businesses in industries with high average revenue per client – medical practices, law firms, and financial advisors – where a website redesign fee is easy to justify.

Result: Every prospect they contact has a documented, quantified website problem – which makes the sales conversation about fixing something specific rather than selling something abstract.

Social Media Management

A social media management agency uses the social media section of the audit report to identify businesses with no active Facebook or Instagram presence. The report flags missing platforms and inactive profiles as clear gaps.

Their outreach frames the gap in business terms: “Your competitors in [City] are generating reviews and local engagement through Instagram. Your profile hasn’t been active in 8 months.

Here is what that costs in visibility.” The prospect connects the gap to a business outcome, not just a marketing metric.

Result: The audit gives the agency a specific, business-relevant entry point for a social media management pitch rather than a generic “you should be on social media” approach.

Who Is This For?

How to Use the Prospecting Tool

Step 1: Open the Prospecting Tool

Switch to Agency view using the account switcher at the top of the sidebar.

Navigate to the Prospecting section in the left navigation. This is where you run searches and manage generated reports.

Step 2: Confirm your agency branding

Before running any searches, go to Agency Settings and confirm your logo, agency name, and colors are configured.

Branding is baked into the report at generation time – reports generated before your branding is set will not show your logo.

Step 3: Search for a prospect

Enter a business type or keyword – for example, “plumber” or “dental clinic” – and a city or ZIP code.

HighLevel returns a list of matching local businesses. Scan the results for businesses with visible gaps – low review counts, missing listings, or unfamiliar names that suggest smaller operators who may not have a dedicated marketing team.

Step 4: Generate the report

Click on a business from the results list. HighLevel pulls publicly available data and generates the full marketing audit report.

The report covers their Google Business Profile, website performance, SEO, social media, and reviews – each with a score and an overall grade.

Step 5: Review the findings before outreach

Read through the report before contacting anyone. Identify the one or two most impactful gaps – the findings most likely to resonate with a business owner.

The outreach message that references a specific number – “you have 11 reviews, your top competitor has 140” – performs better than one that simply says “we can help with your online presence.”

Step 6: Send the report

Use the send option to email the report directly to the prospect’s email address, or copy the shareable link to include in your own outreach sequence.

The report arrives branded with your agency details – name, logo, and colors.

Step 7: Follow up with specific findings

Your follow-up message should name two or three specific findings from the report.

Specific beats generic every time. “Your GBP listing has no posts in the last 6 months and your review count is below the local average” is more compelling than “your online presence could be stronger.”

Step 8: Embed the tool on your website

Find the embed code in Agency Settings or the Prospecting Tool section. Place it on a dedicated page on your agency website – a Free Marketing Audit or Free Website Score page.

This turns your website into a passive lead generation tool that works 24 hours a day without your involvement.

Step 9: Follow up with inbound requests quickly

When a business submits their details through your embedded tool, you receive a notification and the report is ready.

Respond within a few hours while their interest is active. Reference specific findings from their report in your opening message – the same principle applies whether the lead is inbound or outbound.

How Does It Connect to HighLevel?

• Workflow Builder: Once a prospect becomes a client, their onboarding is automated through Workflow Builder. Build a new client onboarding workflow that fires when a sub-account is created for them.
• Custom Sub-Account Reports: After onboarding, clients receive ongoing performance reporting through Custom Sub-Account Reports – the same white-labeled, branded approach that won them as a prospect continues through the relationship.
• Conversation AI: Inbound audit requests from your embedded widget can be followed up automatically using Conversation AI – sending an immediate response and qualifying the prospect before a human gets involved.
• SMS Marketing Automation: Build a follow-up sequence in SMS Marketing Automation for prospects who provide a phone number alongside their audit request – a multi-touch follow-up increases contact rates significantly.
• Database Reactivation: Prospects who received an audit but did not convert can be re-engaged months later through a Database Reactivation campaign – referencing the original audit and noting how the competitive landscape has shifted since then.

Common Questions

What is the Prospecting Tool in HighLevel?

An agency feature for finding local businesses, generating instant white-labeled marketing audit reports, and using those reports to approach potential clients. Found in Agency view under Prospecting.

Where is the Prospecting Tool in HighLevel?

Switch to Agency view using the account switcher. The Prospecting Tool is in the left navigation under Prospecting or Agency Tools depending on your account version.

What does the HighLevel Prospecting Tool audit report include?

Google Business Profile status and review rating, website performance score, SEO indicators, social media presence check, and online review count and average rating. Each section gets a score and the report gives an overall grade.

Can I send the audit report directly to a prospect?

Yes. Email it directly from within the tool or copy the shareable link to include in your own outreach. The report is branded with your agency details.

Can I white-label the HighLevel Prospecting Tool?

Yes. Every report uses your agency’s name, logo, and colors. Prospects see it as a proprietary agency deliverable – HighLevel’s name does not appear anywhere on the report.

Can I embed the Prospecting Tool on my agency website?

Yes. HighLevel provides an embed code for the widget.

Place it on your website under a Free Audit page. Visitors enter their business details and receive a report – generating inbound leads for your agency automatically.

Does the HighLevel Prospecting Tool create a sub-account for each prospect?

No. The tool generates a report and stores the prospect’s details in your agency account. If they become a client, you create a sub-account manually or through your onboarding workflow.

How many prospects can I search for with the HighLevel Prospecting Tool?

HighLevel does not publish a hard cap on searches. The tool is designed for targeted outreach rather than bulk scraping – searching by keyword and location returns a manageable list of local businesses to work through systematically.

Can I track which prospects I have contacted using the Prospecting Tool?

The tool stores generated reports and prospect details in your agency account. For full CRM tracking of outreach and follow-up, add prospects as contacts in a sub-account and manage follow-up from there.

Is the Prospecting Tool available on all HighLevel plans?

The Prospecting Tool is an agency-level feature. It is available to HighLevel agency accounts and is not accessible within individual sub-accounts.

To Wrap It Up

The Prospecting Tool solves the hardest part of agency new business development: giving you something relevant to say to a stranger.

Cold outreach fails most of the time because it leads with what the agency wants – a new client – rather than what the prospect needs. The audit report flips that.

The first thing the prospect receives is specific, useful information about their own business. The agency’s pitch comes second, supported by evidence rather than assertion.

The embed on your website is the longer-term play. An outbound prospecting session generates a batch of leads.

An embedded audit tool generates leads continuously – every visitor who cares enough about their online presence to submit their details is a self-qualified prospect.

The follow-up timing matters more than most agencies realize. A prospect who submits an audit request and hears back three days later has already moved on mentally.

A prospect who hears back within two hours is still in the mindset that prompted the request.

Here is how to get started:

1. Switch to Agency view and go to Prospecting
2. Confirm your agency branding is set in Agency Settings before generating any reports
3. Search for 10 businesses in your target niche and location
4. Generate and review the report for each – identify the ones with the clearest, most serviceable gaps
5. Send 5 personalized outreach messages that reference specific findings from the report
6. Track response rates and refine which findings resonate most with your target niche
7. Get the embed code and set up a Free Audit page on your agency website
8. Set up a notification so you know immediately when an inbound audit request comes in
9. Respond to inbound requests within 2 hours with a message that references their specific report findings

Agencies that use the embed consistently report it as one of their best-performing lead generation channels after the first few months of traffic build-up. The upfront work is minimal – the ongoing return compounds.