Building a Lead Engine After Apollo Shut Us Out

The Problem: Apollo Went Down, and Our Lead Flow Stopped

Like many agencies, Product Siddha relied on Apollo for fast prospect lists and outbound campaigns. It worked well – until Apify’s Apollo scraping access was suddenly banned.

Overnight, our outbound system stopped working.

No more fresh leads. No more automated contact lists.

We tried a few alternatives like Ample Leads and Scraper City. They worked, but most of the data felt old or repeated. We needed something fresh, real-time, and under our control.

The goal was clear:

• Pull live business data from Google Maps
• Find key decision-makers via LinkedIn
• Automate everything through n8n
• Keep it cheaper than Apollo or Sales Navigator scraping

The Solution: A Smart, Lightweight Lead Engine

Instead of switching to another expensive tool, Product Siddha decided to build its own lead generation system – powered by open tools like Google Maps, Apify, and n8n.

Here’s how our new lead engine works:

1. Google Maps Scraper → Fresh Business Data
   The system starts by pulling live business listings directly from Google Maps (for example: “clinics in Melbourne”).
   This ensures that every lead is from a real, active business.
2. Google Sheets → Clean Data Storage
   The scraped data – business name, website, phone, and address – is automatically added to a Google Sheet for easy use.
3. SERP API → Decision Maker Discovery
   Using Google’s free Search API, the system finds decision-maker names and LinkedIn profile URLs based on each company’s website.
4. Apify LinkedIn Scraper → Profiles & Emails
   Next, Apify’s LinkedIn automation fetches profile data, roles, and professional emails for each contact.
5. n8n → Full Automation
   n8n ties everything together. It schedules scrapes, merges data, and updates Google Sheets, all without any manual effort.

The Outcome: Reliable Leads Without the Heavy Price

Our internal automation system now runs smoothly without relying on Apollo or similar databases.

Key Wins:

• Fresh business data from Google Maps
• Real-time decision-maker insights from LinkedIn
• Fully automated workflow via n8n
• Lower cost than any paid lead database
• Zero manual upkeep once built

Measurable Results:

• Accuracy: ~60% (strong for live scraped data)
• Time saved: Hours each week
• Cost: Significantly lower than Apollo or Sales Navigator
• Maintenance: Zero ongoing management
• Output: Google Sheet with business name, contact, title, email, LinkedIn URL, company, website, phone, and address

Lessons Learned

• Live data beats bulk databases every time.
• Automation doesn’t have to be perfect, just consistent.
• Building your own tools can often be faster (and smarter) than finding new ones.

Now, this same workflow helps us:

• Test new Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)
• Feed AI tools for personalized outreach
• Run cleaner, higher-quality cold campaigns

The Stack

Tools Used: n8n, Google Maps API, Google SERP API, Apify LinkedIn Scraper, Google Sheets

Watch the Walkthrough: Product Siddha Case Video

Conclusion: Own Your Data, Own Your Growth

This project shows how Product Siddha uses AI automation to solve real business problems, quickly and cost-effectively. By creating our own lightweight lead system, we now have control, flexibility, and accuracy without paying for outdated data.

Want a similar setup for your sales or marketing team?
Reach out to Product Siddha – we’ll help you build it, or share the JSON file so you can tinker with it yourself.