Leads

1:35

Leads (1:35 video). Open on its own page

What lands in Leads

• Live Assistant captures — leads taken by your AI assistant on phone calls and text conversations. See The AI phone assistant.
• Quote requests from existing customers — when a customer you already have calls or texts your assistant for a quote, an estimate, or new work, it becomes a lead marked Existing customer (see below).
• Website contact-form submissions — and leads created through the Leads API, which arrive with the Website badge.
• Sign-up page — homeowners who signed up for weekly service on your public Sign-up Page (off until you turn it on at Settings → Sign-up Page). They arrive with the Website badge and the source Sign-up page, plus the service they picked.
• 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":

Filter the table with the status tabs: All / New / Contacted / Walkthrough / Converted / Archived. On the All tab, turn on Hide archived leads (next to the tabs) to leave archived leads out; the browser remembers the setting, and the Archived tab still lists them. The tab you pick is kept in the page address (for example /dashboard/leads?status=new), so a link can open straight to it. On the New tab, turn on Not contacted yet to leave out leads someone already marked contacted and then set back to New. The New leads to contact row on the To do list opens the New tab with that switch on, so it lists the same leads the row counts. Newest come first; click a column header to sort by it (click again to flip). Each row also has a ⋮ menu of quick actions — Convert to Customer (also shown on a Converted lead that has no customer yet), Schedule Walkthrough, Mark as Contacted, Mark as Converted (no customer), and Archive/Restore — so you can work leads without opening them. (Convert to Customer here opens the full customer form; the one-step Route Fit conversion lives on the lead's own page.)

Lead categories: your own groups, like a waitlist

Categories are groups you make up for your leads, such as Waitlist, Commercial, Repair only, Summer startups or Referral partner. They are separate from the status: a lead can be Contacted and on the Waitlist at the same time, and moving it between categories never changes its status. A company starts with none, and until you add one the Leads page looks exactly as before.

1. 1Go to Settings → Lead Categories (or search "Lead Categories" with ⌘K).
2. 2Type a name, pick a color, and click Add category. Names must be different from each other, ignoring capitals and punctuation.
3. 3Use Edit on a category to rename or recolor it, the up and down arrows to change the order (the order of the filter and menus), and Archive to retire one. An archived category stays on the leads already in it (shown faded) but disappears from the filter and the menus; Restore it from the Archived list.

Once you have an active category, the Leads table gets a Category column next to Status, a category filter next to the status tabs (All categories, each category, or No category) that works together with the tab and Hide archived leads. Tick some leads with the checkbox on each row (or the header box for every loaded lead) and click Move to category on the bar at the bottom; pick No category to take them out. One lead can also be moved from its row's ⋮ menu (Move to category) or from the category badge in the header of the lead's page. Adding, editing and moving need the "Manage website leads" permission.

Leads from your website or the Leads API can arrive already in a category: send category with the lead's name or slug. An unknown category is ignored and the lead still comes in. The technician app shows each lead's category on the leads list and the lead page, but categories are set from the web dashboard.

Merge duplicate leads

The same person sometimes comes in twice: a website form and a phone call, a second form a week later, a text from a different number. Merge them into one lead so there is one timeline and one set of follow-up texts.

1. 1On the Leads page, tick the checkbox on 2 to 10 duplicate leads. A bar appears at the bottom with the count.
2. 2Click Merge Selected.
3. 3Pick the lead to keep. Pool Founder suggests the one furthest along (a converted lead, then walkthrough scheduled, then contacted), then the oldest.
4. 4Click Merge leads.

The texts, calls, documents, pools and equipment, scheduling proposals and timeline of the other leads move onto the lead you keep. Its empty details (name, email, phone, address, service, source, category) are filled in from the others. A phone number, email or address that differs from the kept lead's doesn't replace it: it is added to the kept lead's message as Also from merged leads: …, so nothing is lost. Every different message is kept, and the earliest date each lead came in or was contacted wins. The kept lead keeps its own status, and its follow-up texts are planned again once. The other leads are archived, and their timeline says Merged into another lead.

Merging can't be undone. A lead already converted to a customer can only be the one you keep, and leads from two different existing customers can't be merged (merge the customers instead, see Merge duplicate customers). Pool Founder does not find duplicate leads for you: you pick them. Merging needs the "Manage website leads" permission, and it is on the web dashboard only, not the technician app. You can also ask George to merge leads.

Quote requests from existing customers

When a customer you already have asks your AI phone assistant for a quote, an estimate, or new work (by call or text), it becomes a lead linked to that customer, with an Existing customer badge, and shows under New leads to contact on the To do list. You get one Your Assistant Captured a New Lead notification, not a phone message. Its message box lists each request with "Phone call" or "Text" and when. A repeat within 3 days, while the lead is open, is added to it. A blocked customer's request stays a phone message. These leads get no automatic reply or follow-up texts.

On the lead page, Existing customer: links to the customer, and Create Quote opens a quote for them with the request filled in; saving it marks the lead Converted. Mark Converted links the same customer. It never makes a second customer: the Route Fit card is hidden, the table's ⋮ menu offers Create Quote instead of Convert to Customer, and Convert & Schedule (also in the technician app, which shows no badge) refuses these leads. The Bodies of Water card stays, so a walkthrough can record the pool's equipment and photos: Create Quote adds them to the quote's service location and Mark Converted to the customer's location at the lead's address (else their first), merged into a pool of the same type without overwriting anything. See Lead pool details.

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):

• Create Quote — quote a lead who isn't a customer yet (it also needs the Create quotes, Create customers and Create service locations permissions). A quote is always for a customer at a service location, because that is where its email, its accept link and the work order come from, so this first adds the lead as a customer: the lead's name, phone and email, a service location at the lead's confirmed address, and the pools and equipment recorded on the lead. The lead is marked Converted right away (Pool Founder has no "quoted" lead status), then the New quote form opens for that customer with the lead's service as the title and its message as the internal note. If the lead has no name, no phone or email, or an address that isn't confirmed on the map yet, the customer form opens prefilled instead; save it and come back to the lead. On a Converted lead that has a customer, Create Quote quotes that same customer again, so quoting a lead twice never makes a second customer. Without an email the quote can still be saved and sent, but no email goes out (add an email on the customer, then resend). If they decline, the customer record stays (with no jobs or route stops); archive the customer if you don't want to keep them.
• Mark Contacted — record that you've reached out, without changing anything else.
• Schedule Walkthrough — opens the Schedule Quote Walkthrough page to put a quote visit on a route (full steps below).
• Mark Converted (no customer) — 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. The table's row menu has the same action. If you used it by mistake, the lead isn't stuck: a Converted lead with no customer shows a Create Customer button on its page (and Convert to Customer in its row's ⋮ menu) that opens the customer form with the lead prefilled and links the new customer to the lead. That needs the Create customers permission.
• Archive / Restore — retire a lead, or bring it back.

Apart from Create Quote, converting is not in that header row. Below the details, the Route Fit card carries Convert & Schedule (creates the customer, service location, job, and route stop in one confirm) and Adjust (the older full customer form with the lead prefilled) — alongside ranked route options and a suggested per-visit rate. Full details: Route Fit. The ⋮ menu on the Leads table still offers the older Convert to Customer action.

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. The same rule as Add Lead applies: a lead must keep at least one of a name, phone number, email, or address, and a lead that came in by call or text can't have its phone number removed ("This lead came in by phone, so its phone number can't be removed.").

Progress notes is a dated log on the lead's page for how working the lead is going: calls, what they asked for, where it stands ("Called, wants a quote after the HOA meets"). Type in the box and click Add Note; each note shows who wrote it and when, newest first, and can carry photos. It's separate from the lead's single Notes field under Edit, which holds the message the lead came in with. Adding progress notes needs the Manage website leads permission; anyone who can view leads can read them. When the lead converts to a customer (Convert & Schedule, the Add Customer form from a lead, Create Quote, or Mark Converted on an existing customer's lead), every progress note is added to that customer's Notes timeline with its original author and date, and stays on the lead page too. Merging leads moves the merged leads' progress notes onto the lead you keep. Progress notes are on the web dashboard; the technician app's lead page doesn't show them.

A lead can also carry the bodies of water at the property — the pool, spa, or hot tub they're asking about, with its gallons, sanitizer, and surface — and the equipment on each one (pump, filter, heater…) with photos, added with Add equipment under the pool on the web or in the technician app. Those details let Route Fit estimate chemicals from similar pools you already service, and the pools, equipment and photos transfer to the customer's service location however the lead converts (Convert & Schedule, the Add Customer form from a lead, or Create Quote / Mark Converted on an existing customer's lead). See Lead pool details.

From a technician alert: Create Lead on the alert fills in its contact details, address, title and description, and copies its photos into a Photos section. (Equipment photos you take at the property go on the pool's equipment instead; see above.) Use Edit if the prospect is someone else.

Everything connected to a lead

Below the lead's details, the page gathers all the activity tied to it:

• Follow-ups — the automated text sequence for this lead, plus its whole timeline. Covered in its own section below.
• 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.

Follow-up texts and the Follow-ups card

Every lead page carries a Follow-ups card: the state of the automated text sequence for that lead, and a timeline of everything it has (and has not) sent. It shows on closed leads too, because "why did this lead archive itself?" is answered there. The sequence itself is the Lead follow-up automation on Messages → Phone → Automated texts — off by default for the whole company. See texting and the Phone inbox.

The badge on the card is one of four:

• Pause (shown while On) stops the sequence for this lead alone and cancels anything already booked — the "I've got this one" button when you have picked the phone up yourself. Resume (shown while Paused) re-plans from where the lead actually is now rather than replaying a stale schedule. Both need the "Manage website leads" permission.
• When nothing has overridden it, the card reads: "Automated texts keep chasing this lead until they reply, convert, or you pause them."
• The timeline underneath is the lead's whole life: "Lead came in", "Address verified", "First reply texted"/"First reply emailed", "Status changed to …", "Follow-ups scheduled: never contacted, walkthrough reminder, …", "Follow-up text sent (gone quiet)", "Follow-ups paused"/"Follow-ups resumed", "Converted to a customer" (or "Marked converted (no customer created)" when no customer was made), and "Archived automatically after no reply".
• Skipped steps are on the timeline too, with the reason in plain English — "No follow-up sent (never contacted) — someone had already contacted them", or "they texted back", "the lead was converted or archived", "follow-ups are paused", "lead follow-ups are turned off", "that step is turned off", "they replied STOP", "no phone number", "the walkthrough changed", "waiting for your approval", "quiet hours ended before it could send", "your daily text limit was full", and so on. Nothing goes unexplained.

Which leads can be texted

• A lead who called you or texted you is always eligible — they started the conversation.
• A lead from your website form or the Leads API is texted only if it arrived with smsConsent: true, meaning the person ticked a texting-consent box on your form. Without it the lead is followed up by email only, and the Follow-ups card goes to Off with the consent reason quoted in the table above.
• Both <code>POST /api/v1/leads</code> and the public form endpoint <code>POST /api/website-lead</code> accept the field. Recommended checkbox wording: "Text me about my request. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out." See API keys and the Leads API.
• For your own website form, you build the form and post it to the endpoint, so the consent checkbox is yours to add. Or use the Sign-up Page: a ready-made Pool Founder page (and iframe embed) that already has this checkbox. Its leads arrive with the source Sign-up page.

Schedule a walkthrough from the web

Schedule Walkthrough (in the lead page's quick actions, or in the table's ⋮ menu) opens the Schedule Quote Walkthrough page — pick a technician, then click a date on the month calendar. Switching technicians keeps the date you picked, so you can compare who has a route that day; click the date again to clear it. A summary panel builds as you go:

• The selected date and technician.
• The route the walkthrough will land on, with its stop count for that date — e.g. "Route: Monday North (12 stops)". It counts everything booked that date: the regular stops due that week, work orders and other one-time stops, and stops transferred in, minus stops skipped or transferred away. The calendar days show the same count and day length.
• 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. No single field is required — a name, a phone number, an email, or an address is enough to save the lead, so you can capture "the blue house on Maple" mid-call and fill in the rest later. Everything else (source, service, notes, bodies of water) is optional. Converting the lead into a customer still asks for a first name and a phone or email.

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 (sidebar → Settings → API), 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 $25/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.

Work leads from the mobile app

The whole Leads section is also in the technician mobile app: Today 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, Schedule Walkthrough, Mark Converted, Archive / Restore.
• The mobile lead page has a Convert to Customer card with three tabs. Recurring is Route Fit: pick a Service, check the Rate (prefilled with the suggested rate; See the math shows how), and pick a Route (the best fit is preselected), then one button such as Add to Tuesday · $58/visit creates the customer, service location, job, and route stop. Work Order (any work order, or No service) and Quote add the lead as a customer and open Create Work Order or Create Quote for them, prefilled. After converting, a Create for [name] card offers Maintenance, Work Order, Quote and View Customer. See Route Fit.
• 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.
• New Lead — in the same Sales group, above the Leads row, "New business? Start here — see route fit and pricing" opens the Add Lead form in one tap. The "+" button on the leads list opens the same form.
• On that form the Address field is a button ("Search for an address") that opens a full-screen search: type to pick a suggestion, choose one of your last five Recent addresses, or tap Use my current location for someone who flags a technician down at a house. Current location drops you on a Confirm the address map — "Move the map to adjust the pin" — because GPS can land on the curb or next door. Creating the lead with a pinned address opens its page with Route Fit already worked out.

Frequently asked questions

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