Google Maps Selenium Scrape for Potential Customers

The Problem: Prospecting by Hand

Imagine spending half a work-day hunched over Google Maps, zooming into every shopping plaza, clicking each red pin, jotting down phone numbers, then repeating for eleven different keywords. That was my friend’s weekly ritual as he tried to place a THC-infused beverage in smoke shops around town. Great hustle—terrible use of time.

The Vision: Automate the Boring Stuff, Keep the Human Touch

What if a small program could handle the detective work—collect names, addresses, phone numbers, even star ratings—so the salesperson could jump straight to what humans do best: starting conversations? That’s exactly why the Hybrid Selenium Shop Finder was born.

Grab the full script: hybrid_selenium_finder.py

Under the Hood (in Plain English)

A Walk Through a Typical Run

1. Launch & Prompt
   You double-click the script, type a zip code (e.g., 29466), and press Enter. If you’d rather not watch Chrome flicker across the screen, add y when asked about background mode.

2. Keyword Blitz
   Out-of-the-box the script searches eleven phrases—“smoke shop,” “vape shop,” “CBD store,” etc.—but you can swap in whatever matches your industry.

3. Bulk Skim
   In seconds, every result panel in the sidebar is scanned. The script notes names and review scores, then queues each unique link for deeper digging.

4. Selective Deep Dive
   Business cards missing a phone number or address are opened, scraped, and closed before Google even thinks about throttling you.

5. Instant Report
   Once all keywords finish, the script prints a quick stats dashboard—how many shops had phones, addresses, websites, hours—and highlights the 15 most-reviewed stores. Meanwhile, your CSV is waiting in Documents.

Total elapsed time? About 5–10 minutes for one zip code and eleven keywords.

Why Sales Teams Love It

• Three-Hour Job → Coffee Break
  Manual prospecting averaged ~45 seconds per lead; the script slashes that to a few seconds.

• Cleaner Data, Better Calls
  Properly formatted phones mean fewer misdials, and star ratings help you prioritize high-traffic locations first.

• Zero Tech Friction
  Runs on Windows, macOS, or Linux. No Selenium knowledge required—just Python 3 and Google Chrome.

• Safe for Corporate Networks
  A polite 1-2 second pause between clicks keeps Google happy and your IP unflagged.

Tailoring It to Your Niche

Final Thoughts

The Hybrid Selenium Shop Finder doesn’t close deals for you—that’s still the art of persuasion—but it does turn hours of grunt work into a single command-line prompt. Throw it at your next zip-code campaign and spend the time you save refining your pitch, nurturing relationships, or, you know, taking a well-earned coffee break.