The Howard County Promise

If we miss, you don’t chase a refund — we send it.

This page is the promise, whole: what counts, where the bar sits, what happens when we miss, and the three conditions. Nothing lives in a footnote.

What counts

One sentence decides everything this page promises.

Every guarantee you have ever been offered came apart on one question: who decides what counts? Here, the answer is printed before you sign, and it reads the same for every client we keep.

Definition — qualified lead

A qualified lead is a tracked call over 60 seconds, or a form, chat, or text inquiry from a prospect in your service area — counted in the same Signal dashboard you watch.

No agency-only math.

You watch the same ledger we do — names, timestamps, recordings, entered as they happen. There is no second set of books to argue over, because there is no second set of books.

Where the bar sits

Set per client at signup, from a baseline audit — never a house average.

The bar is a number, not a mood. At signup we audit where you stand — your current call volume, your review count, your place in the county’s search results — and set the mark from it, in writing (e.g., 20 qualified leads + 15 new Google reviews in your first 90 days). A dentist in Columbia and a roofer in Elkridge do not start from the same place, so they do not get the same number.

And the honest part, printed where it belongs: the bar is carried by the fast levers — database reactivation, missed-call text-back, your Business Profile, review automation. It is never carried by SEO. Search rankings compound for quarters before they pay, and a 90-day promise leaning on them would be a promise built to be missed. The slow work compounds on top of the bar. It never props it up.

When we miss

The trigger is automatic. The choice is yours.

You do not audit us — The Signal does. When the 90-day window closes short of the written mark, the remedy triggers on its own and we notify you. The notice comes from us, against ourselves. Then you choose:

Remedy one

A full refund of the monthly fees.

The money comes back. The site, the domain, and every word on it stay yours.

Remedy two

We work free until the mark is hit.

Same plan, same levers, no invoice — until the number we wrote is the number that lands.

Your call, not ours — written into the agreement before the first dollar moves.

The three conditions

All of them. There is no fourth, and there is no fine print.

Give us Business Profile access
The fast levers run through your Google Business Profile. Without the keys, the machinery stands still.
Answer leads within one business day
Or let the AI answer for you, day and night. The Promise delivers the lead — someone still has to pick it up.
Keep the system on for 90 days
The window the bar is measured in. Switch it off mid-window and the count stops with it.

That is the whole list. If it ever changes, it changes here, in print — not in a clause you were supposed to find.

Which plan carries it

Stated exactly, so nothing is implied.

Starter — $297/moReview-growth promise

Growth — $397/moFull promise — leads, in writing

Pro — $497/moFull promise — leads, in writing

Starter carries the review-growth promise only — its levers can’t guarantee leads, so we don’t. We will not put in writing what the machinery cannot enforce. Growth and Pro carry the full lead promise, because the receptionists and the reactivation they add are the levers that can.

The promise rides on plain terms

A guarantee is only worth what leaving costs. Here, leaving costs $0.

No contract year to wait out. No buy-out figure, no hostage clause, no fee for the keys. The domain is registered to you. The site is yours. Every word on it is yours. Leave in month two or year five — all of it goes with you, and the promise held the whole time you stayed.

Month to month · cancel anytime · your domain, your site, your words

If we miss, you will not have to ask — the notice and the remedy come to you, under my name.

Jin “Jay” Hwang

Founder, The Carmel Signal · Ellicott City, Maryland

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