Every prospect, one table
The Leads page is every prospective customer in one table: leads your assistant captured on phone calls and text conversations, website contact-form submissions, leads pushed in through the API, and leads you add manually. Click any row to see everything connected to that lead — the calls, texts, and AI scheduling proposals behind it — and convert it to a customer when you win the work.
What lands in Leads
- Live Assistant captures — leads taken by your AI assistant on phone calls and text conversations. See The AI phone assistant.
- Website contact-form submissions — and leads created through the Leads API, which arrive with the Website badge.
- Manual adds — leads you or your technicians enter by hand.
- Addresses on new leads are verified against Google at capture.
The Source column shows a channel badge for how each lead arrived, plus any human-entered source like "Google Search":
| Badge | How the lead arrived |
|---|---|
| Phone call | Captured by your assistant on a phone call |
| Text | Captured by your assistant in a text conversation |
| Website | Submitted through your website contact form or the Leads API |
| Manual | Added by hand |
Filter the table with the status tabs: All / New / Contacted / Walkthrough / Converted / Archived. Each row also has a ⋮ menu with the same quick actions as the lead page — Convert to Customer, Schedule Walkthrough, Mark as Contacted, Mark as Converted (no customer), and Archive/Restore — so you can work leads without opening them.
The lead page
Click any row to open the lead's full page: contact info, the intake notes or transcript, and quick action buttons (these need the "Manage website leads" permission):
- Convert to Customer — prefills the customer form with the lead's details; saving the customer marks the lead Converted automatically.
- Schedule Walkthrough — put a quote walkthrough on a technician's schedule (see the section below).
- Mark Contacted — record that you've reached out, without changing anything else.
- Mark Converted — set the lead to Converted without creating a customer record. Use it when the person is already in your customer list or the deal closed outside Pool Founder. In the table's row menu the same action is labeled Mark as Converted (no customer) to make the distinction explicit.
- Archive / Restore — retire a lead, or bring it back.
Edit (next to the status badge) makes the lead's details editable in place — first and last name, phone, email, service address, service needed, and notes — then Save. This is handy for filling in what an AI call or text didn't capture.
A lead's phone number can't be cleared — it's how calls and texts stay linked to the lead.
Everything connected to a lead
Below the lead's details, the page gathers all the activity tied to it:
- AI Scheduling Proposals — appointments the assistant proposed for this lead. Pending ones show "Approve & schedule" / "Decline" for users with the "Approve scheduling" permission; decided ones show Scheduled or Declined badges.
- Calls — every AI-answered call with an outcome badge. Click a row to expand the transcript and any message taken.
- Texts — a conversation preview with an Open thread link that jumps to that exact conversation in the Phone inbox.
New-lead notifications link straight to the lead's page on the web. On mobile, tapping a "new lead" push opens the call that captured it, and that call screen has a "Lead from this call" link through to the lead.
Schedule a walkthrough from the web
Schedule Walkthrough opens the Schedule Quote Walkthrough page — pick a technician, then click a date on the month calendar. A summary panel builds as you go:
- The selected date and technician.
- The route the walkthrough will land on, with its current stop count — e.g. "Route: Monday North (12 stops)".
- If the technician has no route that day, the panel warns "No route exists for this day. A route will need to be created first." and the Schedule Walkthrough button stays disabled — the web flow only schedules onto existing routes.
Scheduling adds the walkthrough to that route as an unplanned stop (category Quote Walkthrough) carrying the lead's name, phone, and address, and moves the lead to the Walkthrough status tab. On mobile the flow is simpler and can fall back to the open pool — see below.
Add a lead manually — and the Lead API
Add Lead (top right of the Leads page) creates a lead by hand. First name is required, plus at least one way to reach them — phone or email. Everything else (last name, address, source, service, notes) is optional.
The Source field is a searchable picker that comes pre-seeded with common answers — Google Search, Website, Referral, Phone Call, Walk-in, Social Media, Nextdoor, Yard Sign, Door Hanger — merged with any sources your company has used before. Type something new and click Create "…" to add your own; it shows up in the Source column and joins the picker for next time.
The Lead API button next to it jumps to the API page under Company Settings, where API keys and the endpoint docs live — that's how you push leads in automatically from Zapier or custom code. See API keys and the Leads API.
The automatic first reply
When a lead comes in through a website contact form, Pool Founder emails the prospect back within seconds, branded as your company — your logo, your colors, and your custom sending domain if you've verified one. The reply confirms their request was received and says someone will follow up. The time from submission to first reply is recorded on the lead.
- It never states a day, a time, a technician, or a price — it acknowledges the request and hands off to a human.
- Phone calls and inbound texts don't use this reply — those are answered live by the assistant in the moment.
- The reply goes by text instead of email only if your company has finished 10DLC texting registration and turned the text option on. Text auto-replies require a business line of your own (the $15/mo add-on) plus finished registration — companies on the free call-forwarding path can't use them, because texting can only run on a line Pool Founder provides. See Phone setup.
There is not yet a settings screen for turning the automatic first reply off or editing its wording. If you need it changed, contact support at support@poolfounder.com.
Work leads from the mobile app
The whole Leads section is also in the technician mobile app: Route tab → actions list → Sales → Leads (needs the "View website leads" permission and an internet connection). See Mobile invoices and leads.
- Same list, same status filter chips, and the same channel badges — with tap-to-call and tap-to-email on each lead's page.
- The same quick actions work with the "Manage website leads" permission: edit in place, Mark Contacted / Converted, Archive / Restore.
- Convert to Customer opens the Add Customer form with the lead prefilled; saving the customer marks the lead Converted automatically.
- Schedule Walkthrough on mobile is a simple picker: choose a technician and a date, and a card shows which route it lands on. If that technician has no route that day, the walkthrough goes to the open pool instead.
- The "+" button adds a lead by hand — for someone who flags a technician down at a house.
Frequently asked questions
Can I turn off the automatic first reply or change what it says?
Not yet — there is no settings screen for the automatic reply. If you need it turned off or reworded, contact support at support@poolfounder.com.
Will the automatic reply promise the customer a time or a price?
No. It never states a day, a time, a technician, or a price — it confirms the request was received and says someone will follow up.
Why does the first reply go by email instead of text?
Text auto-replies require a business line of your own (the $15/mo add-on) plus finished 10DLC texting registration, with the text option turned on. For everyone else, the reply goes by email.
Can my technicians work leads from the field?
Yes — the full Leads section is in the technician mobile app under the Route tab's Sales actions, with the same list, filters, detail pages, and quick actions as the web dashboard.