Tired of bouncing back and forth between multiple apps and SPOTIO to find businesses to prospect? We have you covered! Our integration with Google Places allows admins, managers, and sales reps on our B2B plan to quickly and easily identify opportunities and create records without leaving the SPOTIO app. 

What is Google Places?

Google Places is a directory of business listings collected by Google, sort of like a phonebook. Google uses this information to display the most relevant local results to users looking for local businesses.

In SPOTIO, sales reps, managers and admins can use Google Places to search for opportunities by keywords and add them to their pipeline.  

Using Google Places on Mobile

To turn on Google Places on the mobile app: 

1. Tap on the Map icon in the bottom panel.
2. Tap on the layers icon that looks like a stack of papers in the top right corner.
3. Toggle on Google Places.

Search for Places by Keyword

1. Tap the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner.
2. Tap on the Places tab.
3. Type in your search terms. We recommend searching by a business name or opportunity type.
4. Tap on the individual opportunity you want to create as a record or view all opportunities on the map
   1. You will have the choice to log a visit immediately or create the record without logging a visit (video 1 below).
   2. Click on the search button if you want to view all of the opportunities on the map. You will see a number on the Google icon which correlates with the opportunity in the list view (video 2 below).

Video 1

Video 2

Using Google Places on Web

To use Google Places on the web app:

1. Locate the Search bar at the top left of the screen.
2. Type in your search terms.
3. Click on the Places tab in the pop out window on the left side of the screen.
4. Click on the Place from the list to show its location on the map.
5. Click New Lead on the popup to open the Record info panel.
6. Fill in any customer information and click Save at the bottom of the Record info panel to create a Record in SPOTIO.

Best Practices

1. You must add the Place as a Record in SPOTIO in order to schedule/log activity on it, add it to a route, etc. 
2. Because this information is pulled from the Google API, the list of places you are able to view may not be exhaustive.
3. In addition to searching by Company Name, you can search for a type of establishment (i.e. Restaurant, Bar, Gas Station, etc.), or by phone number. Searching by a city or zip code alone will often return the Places listing for that city or zip code, so we recommend always including additional keywords when using locations in your query. 
4. By default, if you do not include a city or zip code in your query, SPOTIO will pull information from Google Places in the viewable area of the map. For example, if you zoom in on Dallas and search for “Gas Station”, it will return results for gas stations in Dallas. Up to 20 results are displayed at one time. 

FAQs

Why would I want to use Google Places?

Allows you to build your pipeline from a single interface rather than navigating between multiple apps. 

Can I add records in bulk?

No, you will need to add the records one at a time.

I typed the keyword but nothing is populating. Why is this?

Make sure that you select the Places tab instead of Records.

What type of opportunities can I find using Google Places?

Quickly identify businesses near you and utilize downtime between appointments to create more opportunities to sell.