As I talked about in my previous article, building out a lead generation and CRM process for your business doesn’t need to be a heavyweight activity. But that doesn’t mean it’s without friction. I quickly learned this when I began doing Facebook-based lead generation for my own business.
Initially, I was getting some traction — people were responding to my outreach and I was making connections. But the process was clunky, time-consuming, and didn’t scale well. It felt like I was spending more time manually managing the process than actually engaging in valuable conversations.
The Old Way: Manual and Messy
Here’s how things looked when I first started:
I’d find a Facebook group that looked relevant — maybe it catered to freelancers, founders, or people in a particular niche that matched the kinds of clients I typically work with. Then I’d scroll through the members list and send out friend requests to people who seemed interesting.
Once they accepted, I’d reach out via Messenger to strike up a conversation and see whether there was any synergy between their needs and my services. It wasn’t a bad approach — but it wasn’t very efficient either. I was making connections, but I wasn’t being particularly targeted, and I had no system for tracking who I’d messaged, who responded, and where any given conversation was at.
A Smarter Approach: Semi-Automation
That’s when I decided to build a Chrome extension to help me out.
Now, Facebook understandably limits what you can automate. So I didn’t try to build a full-on bot. Instead, I created a tool that lets me manually trigger the key steps in my process — which still gives me structure and efficiency without breaking any rules.
Once I’ve selected a group, I simply:
- Click the extension icon
- Hit “Scan Members”
- The extension extracts public profile data and syncs it to a connected Google Sheet
No scraping behind the scenes. No background scripts. It only runs when I tell it to.
End-to-End: From Group to CRM
The beauty of this system is that it now gives me an actual leadgen workflow I can build on. Here’s what that looks like:
Step 1: Find a relevant group I still start by finding groups where my ideal clients are likely to hang out. This part hasn’t changed. But now I’m more intentional about which groups I focus on.
Step 2: Extract the contacts With one click, I scan the group’s member list. The extension pulls names, profile URLs, descriptions (usually job titles), and friendship status. All publicly visible, all added to a Google Sheet.
Step 3: Organise and filter in Google Sheets Now that I have structured data, I can apply filters. Want to focus on founders? Consultants? UX designers? I can easily filter the list and flag promising leads.
Step 4: Reach out to a refined list of contacts Instead of messaging everyone, I now have a curated list. That means my outreach is more personal, more relevant, and more likely to land.
Step 5: Track conversations I use the same Google Sheet to log my outreach — when I messaged someone, whether they replied, what the follow-up should be. It’s simple but powerful.
Step 6: Iterate and improve Because I have data, I can now iterate. Which groups produce the best leads? What kinds of messages get the most responses? Everything gets better with a little structure.
Why This Changed Everything
Previously, I was working from memory and intuition. Now, I have a repeatable process that saves me time, keeps me organised, and gives me far more clarity on what’s actually working.
It’s not a complex system. But it works.
And because it’s built around tools I already use — Facebook and Google Sheets — there’s no learning curve and no need to adopt yet another CRM platform.
Want to Try It?
You can install the extension from the Chrome Web Store: Chrome Web Store Listing
Want setup instructions and more? Head to: https://sjpknight.com/apps/fb-leads