Podcast Summary: Owned and Operated
Episode: Google LSAs: The Easiest Way to Add Leads Tomorrow
Hosts: John Wilson & Sam Preston
Date: January 8, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of "Owned and Operated" centers on the immense and often underutilized potential of Google Local Service Ads (LSAs) for home service businesses, such as plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. John Wilson and Sam Preston break down why LSAs remain the easiest lever to pull to generate leads quickly, share personal experiences in marketing and acquisitions, and dish out actionable advice for owners looking to grow fast in 2026.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. 2025 Recap & 2026 Ambitions

[01:11 – 02:52]

• Both hosts are optimistic about 2026, shaking off the operational and regulatory headaches of the previous year, including issues like refrigeration regulations and unpredictable weather.
• Sam hints at bigger projects: “Going to try to put on a marketing conference. Hint, hint, you know, wink.” [01:51]
• John shares ambitious financial goals: “This year we want to double. But we want to double EBITDA. So we want to go from three and a half to seven.” [02:29]
• Active acquisition strategy: “We closed one 48 hours ago ... and we have two more that we're actively talking to.” [02:52]

2. Acquisitions: Low-Hanging Marketing Fruit

[03:11 – 07:58]

• John loves acquisition targets where basic marketing activities (especially LSAs) are untapped:
  “I get really excited when I see these small businesses that either have not turned on LSA yet or ... have LSA turned on just like not very often.” [04:29]
• Success from simple switches: “They grew 50% last year and the biggest change that they made was they turned on LSA.” [04:35]
• The hosts stress an existing infrastructure (HR, marketing, accounting) makes LSA adoption fundamentally easier for their team.

3. What Makes a Good Marketing Turnaround?

[07:58 – 13:53]

• John’s acquisition playbook: Look for companies with decent Google Business Profiles (GBPs), solid reviews, but underutilized digital marketing channels.
• Sam notes: “It’s so much easier just like increase ad spend. Like, it's just so much easier... those are like the easy fixes.” [07:58]
• Importance of customer lists ripe for reactivation: “I'll find like 6 to 10,000 customers inside a database that have never been talked to once.” [08:37]
• Caution for distressed acquisitions: Both discuss the risks and limits of marketing fixes—John only wants companies with some service presence:
  “If a company had zero service presence, like it was 100% new construction with no service leads, I'd be out.” [12:18]

4. Deep Dive: Google Local Service Ads (LSAs)

[14:51 – 34:36]

What Are LSAs and Why Are They Great?

• LSAs show at the top of local Google results, tagged as “Sponsored” or “Google Guaranteed.” Google even backs jobs up to $2,000, increasing customer trust. [15:13]
• LSA flywheel: “Get phone calls through it, do the job and get a five star review. If you can do those three things well, you can win LSA.” [15:38]

How to Win with LSAs

• Consistency is key:
  • Post regularly
  • Mark jobs as booked
  • Collect five-star reviews
  • Keep your GBP and LSA in sync
• Sam: “If you can do those three things, just that flywheel of consistency, you’ll see your account grow and snowball.” [15:38]

Common LSA Mistakes

• Turning the budget off completely is a critical error: “One of the biggest mistakes you can make in LSA is turning it off even with too many leads.” [19:09]
• Solution: “Just throw a hundred bucks at ... don’t turn down to zero.” [19:24]

Real-World Impact & Underutilization

• LSAs remain low-hanging fruit: “Even in 2025, like, that's still apparently low hanging fruit.” [16:38]
• Both hosts share stories of acquisitions or clients doubling just from activating LSAs.
• Sam recalls: "He had to keep turning it off because he was just getting booked out way too much through LSA." [00:03], [23:34]

Interplay: LSAs and Google Business Profile

• LSA and GBP are now connected—activities in one affect the other.
• “GBP has become like the number one thing for driving lead... You get one review for GBP, it's connected to your LSA.” [20:38], [20:50]
• Recommended: Always run both, even with a minimal LSA budget.

Geographic & Operational Scaling

• More branches and more staff unlock larger lead flow due to the way Google distributes responses.
• John: “Google somehow figures out a way to feed us exactly the amount of leads that we can handle.” [27:05]

LSA Limitations

• Can't hyper-target certain jobs (e.g., high-ticket vs. small-ticket jobs).
• Occasional off-target leads can occur, and sometimes geography isn’t perfect.

Taking Action

• “Go to YouTube, look up how to set one up and start. Like, there's no excuse. By end of today, you should have this going.” [27:27], [33:58]
• The advice is to not overthink—just get it running and reap the almost-immediate lead results.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is the literal, easiest thing to do to just add leads tomorrow.”
  — John Wilson [00:00], [14:57]

• “The whole system of LSA is built around get phone calls through it, do the job and get a five star review.”
  — Sam Preston [00:14], [15:38]

• “If you can do a change today that will impact you today. Like, that’s incredible. Like, that’s the, that’s low hanging fruit.”
  — John Wilson [32:18]

• On the risks of not using LSA:
  “Turning it off is just not, not acceptable.”
  — Sam Preston [00:03], [23:53]

• “It’s not okay for the rest of us struggling with leads, John, we can’t be having people turning off their LSAs!”
  — Sam Preston [24:02]

• On ease of setup:
  “Go to YouTube, look up how to set one up and start. Like, there’s no excuse. By end of today, you should have this going.”
  — Sam Preston [27:27], [33:58]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:11] – Optimism for 2026 and business goals
• [03:11] – Recent acquisitions and feelings post-close
• [04:29] – Excitement about companies underutilizing LSAs
• [07:58] – Marketing opportunities in untapped customer lists and bad digital presence
• [14:51] – Deep dive begins: What are LSAs?
• [15:13] – LSA basics (“Google Guaranteed,” review-centric)
• [19:09] – Mistake: Turning LSA budget to zero
• [20:38] – GBP's dominance and its connection to LSAs
• [27:05] – Google’s lead distribution algorithm mystery
• [30:29] – LSAs as the second most important lead channel, right behind GBP
• [33:58] – Final call to action: Just get LSAs running now!

Practical Takeaways & Action Steps

• If you’re not using LSA, start today: It’s simple, effective, and can scale lead flow dramatically overnight.
• Keep LSA budgets running, even if minimal: Don’t turn it off entirely—Google rewards consistency.
• Maintain synergy between your GBP and LSA: Activities in one affect the other.
• Don’t overcomplicate setup: Use free resources, like YouTube, to get started fast.
• Consider agency help only after stuck or for scale: Early-stage LSA can be managed in-house.

Final Thoughts & Tone

The episode is energetic and practical, urging home service business owners to get over tech paralysis and start using LSAs immediately for quick, scalable business growth. The banter between John and Sam is optimistic, direct, and occasionally humorous, bolstering the message that some growth levers are too easy to ignore. As John puts it: “Business is easy, you know, or it's simple. It's hard, but it's simple. Get more leads, sell more deals, sell more things.” [34:26]

If you’re not leveraging LSAs, you’re likely leaving easy money and growth on the table. This episode is a must-listen (or, in this summary’s case, read) for any owner ready to grow in the new year.