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Have an AI agent list the businesses already paying for Meta ads.

Give this prompt to an AI agent that can open a web browser. It searches Meta's public Ad Library for a trade and a city, and gives you one row per business running ads now. It sorts them oldest first, and drafts a first message for each from what the ad offers. It sends nothing.

If you sell to local businesses and don't know who to reach out to, it finds the ones already paying to reach customers. If you'd rather do the search by hand, the ADS page has it in five steps.

Get the filesStart the steps

1 row

per business, not per ad. If a business runs several ads, the row uses the start date of its oldest one still running.

30+ days

of running tells you a business keeps paying for that ad. It doesn't prove the ad works.

DRAFT

on every first message the agent writes. The prompt tells it never to send, post or submit anything.

What’s inside

  • The prompt, ready to copy, with the trade, the city and the country as blanks
  • The sheet: the ADS page's columns, with days running and keep worked out, plus a draft_message column
  • What an ad's start date tells you, and what it doesn't
  • What to check before you contact anyone, and why sending is a separate decision

How to use it

The whole prompt is in outbound-prompt.txt below, ready to copy from COPY FROM HERE to COPY TO HERE. In the video, my agent runs a script that reads the Ad Library. This prompt asks any agent that can browse to do the same search, so you don't need a script.

0 of 5 done

  1. Pick an agent that can browse

    • Use an AI tool that can open a web browser, scroll a page and read what loads. The Ad Library loads its ads as you scroll, so a tool that only reads a page's text may come back empty.
    • If it says it can't open the page, do the search by hand with the ADS page's five steps.
    • Menu names in these tools change. Go by the words on your own screen.
    • Read Meta's Automated Data Collection Terms first. They say you need Meta's written permission to collect data from its sites by automated means, such as bots and scrapers.
    • An agent that browses for you may count. If in doubt, do the search by hand.

  2. Fill in the blanks

    • Every blank is in square brackets: , , , and .
    • Run one trade and one city at a time. Then run the versions a customer would say, such as , , and the towns around you.

  3. Paste it and let it run

    • Paste the whole prompt as one message. It searches, keeps the active ads, and returns one row per business as CSV, oldest first.
    • Ask the agent to save its rows as a file called rows.csv, without the header row or its last line. If it can't, paste them into a plain-text file with that name.
    • Open outbound-sheet.csv in Google Sheets. Use File, then Import, upload rows.csv and choose Append to current sheet. Then delete the EXAMPLE row.
    • Copy the sheet's two formulas down over days_running and keep, so they update each day.

  4. Check every row yourself

    • Open each row's ad link and check the page name, the start date and the website match what the agent wrote. An agent can misread a page or make up a row.
    • Put the day you looked in . Ads stop and start, so check again before you use the row.

  5. Read every draft, then decide

    • Each draft_message starts with . Edit it or delete it.
    • Nothing in the prompt sends anything. Whether you contact anyone is a separate decision. Read the rules at the end of this page first.

What the prompt tells the agent

What it asks for, in plain words. The exact words are in outbound-prompt.txt.

Where to search

Open , set your country, select All ads, and search a trade and a city. The file also has a search address that does the same for active ads only.

What to keep

Only ads that are active now, for your trade, from businesses in or near your city. It scrolls until no new ads appear, or it has 40 businesses.

One row per business

The page name, the start date of its oldest ad still running, the website the ad links to, and what the ad offers, in one line.

The order

Sorted by start date, oldest first, with the days running and keep filled in.

The draft

Two short sentences and one question, from what the ad offers and your one line on what you do. No price, promise, result claim or link. It starts with DRAFT:.

What it must never do

Send, post, comment, message or submit a form. Invent a business, date, website or offer. If it can't read the Ad Library, it says so and stops.

What the date tells you

30 days or more: they keep paying

An ad that has run for 30 days or more tells you the business keeps paying for it. It doesn't prove the ad works. Treat it as a sign the business has a budget for ads, not as a sign the ad is good.

Under 30 days: look again later

A new ad may be a test. Keep the row, and check again in a few weeks whether it's still running.

The sheet

Open outbound-sheet.csv in Google Sheets or Excel. It has the ADS sheet's columns, with draft_message added at the end, and one example row to type over.

page_name

What goes in it
The name of the Facebook Page running the ad.

city

What goes in it
The city you searched, or the one on their page.

search_used

What goes in it
The words you searched, such as .

start_date

What goes in it
The date its oldest ad that's still running started.

days_running, worked out for you

What goes in it
Today minus the start date:

website

What goes in it
The site the ad links to. If it has no link, the website in See ad details.

what_the_ad_offers

What goes in it
One line in plain words: the service, and what the ad offers.

ad_link

What goes in it
From Options, then Copy Ad Link.

date_checked

What goes in it
The day you looked. Ads stop and start, so check again before you use the row.

keep, worked out for you

What goes in it
TRUE at 30 days or more:

draft_message

What goes in it
The agent's first message, starting . Read it, edit it, and decide for yourself.

Sending is a separate decision

The prompt builds a list and writes drafts. It sends nothing. The video shows the list being built, and it claims no replies, calls or clients.

Whether you contact anyone, and how, is your decision, made after you've checked each row.

Before you contact anyone

A business running an ad hasn't agreed to hear from you. These are the same notes as on the LIST page, under Before you contact anyone. They're notes, not legal advice.

Email: CAN-SPAM

It covers business email too. Use an accurate From and Reply-To, and a subject line that matches the message. Identify the message as an ad, include a valid physical postal address, and honour opt-outs within 10 business days. The drafts have none of this, so add it before you send one by email. Source: ftc.gov, CAN-SPAM guide.

Calls: the Do Not Call Registry

Consumers can register wireless numbers. Scrub any number that may be a personal mobile before you dial it. Source: telemarketing.donotcall.gov.

Calls and texts to mobiles

Autodialled, prerecorded or artificial-voice calls and texts to mobiles need prior express consent, and for marketing that consent must be written. So dial by hand, send no texts, and leave no voicemail drops. This is the general rule from FCC guidance, not legal advice.

Each row

Check the business is still running the ad, and that the name and website match, on the day you contact them. Ads stop and start.

Take the files

The prompt

outbound-prompt.txt

Ready to copy, with the blanks in square brackets, how to use it, the sheet's columns and the rules before you contact anyone.

Download

The sheet

outbound-sheet.csv

The ADS sheet's columns plus draft_message, with days running and keep already worked out. Open it in Google Sheets or Excel.

Download

Open a .csv in Google Sheets (File, then Import) or Excel.

The businesses, dates and searches on this page and in the video are examples to adapt. No business in the video is a client, and nothing here is a result.

An agent can misread a page or make up a row. Check each one in the Ad Library before you use it.

A list tells you who to talk to. Generating your own leads is the system.

Lead Generation Group is a program that teaches you to generate your own leads and sets up the Lead Generation OS with you. The first 90 days focus on paid acquisition: Meta ads, the offer, the funnel, tracking, CRM and follow-up.

See If You Qualify