PARTNERSHIP // LEAD POLICY

Lead policy: what counts, what is credited, and how exclusivity works.

This lead policy sets the rules for every Exclusive Market Partnership. A qualified lead is a real inquiry for the covered service from inside the covered territory. Wrong numbers, solicitations, out-of-territory contacts, duplicates within 30 days, and non-covered services are credited when requested within 72 hours. One partner holds each market, in writing.

This policy forms part of every Exclusive Market Partnership agreement WynterIX LLC signs. An Exclusive Market Partnership is an arrangement in which WynterIX builds, owns, and ranks a property for one service in one metro, then sends every inbound call and form from it to a single partner. Where this policy and a signed partnership agreement differ, the signed agreement controls.

Definitions

Property: A website, page set, or listing that WynterIX builds, owns, and operates for one covered service in one covered territory. The partner does not own the property or any part of it.
Partner: The business that holds a market under a signed partnership agreement and receives every lead the property produces.
Market: One covered service in one covered territory. A market has at most one partner at a time.
Covered service: The service or services named in the partnership agreement. Anything not named there is not covered.
Covered territory: The metro area, counties, cities, or ZIP codes listed in the partnership agreement. Where the agreement lists ZIP codes, that list controls.
Lead: Any inbound phone call to the tracked number, or any form submission, that reaches the partner from the property.
Qualified lead: A lead that meets every condition in the next section and is not credited under this policy.
Statement: The monthly record WynterIX sends the partner. It lists every lead with its date, time, source page, call duration or form contents, and status.
Credit: The removal of a lead from the qualified count, and from the invoice where per-qualified-lead pricing applies.
Business day: Monday through Friday, excluding US federal holidays.

What counts as a qualified lead

A lead is qualified when all of the following are true. The test is applied to what the contact actually said or wrote, as heard on the recording or read on the form.

The contact is a real person or business asking about the covered service.
The work is located inside the covered territory.
The contact reached the partner through the property's tracked number or form.
A call lasted long enough to identify the request, or the caller left a voicemail describing it.
It is not a repeat contact from the same person, phone number, or job address within 30 days of an earlier lead.

A lead does not have to become a booked job to be qualified. Price shoppers, callers who choose another contractor, and appointments that fall through are still qualified leads, because the property did its part. What happens after first contact is the partner's work.

What is credited

The partner does not pay for, and is not measured on, leads in these five categories.

Wrong numbers and misdials, including calls meant for another business.
Solicitations: sales calls, vendor pitches, recruiters, spam, and robocalls.
Out-of-territory requests, where the work is located outside the covered territory.
Duplicates: a repeat contact from the same person, phone number, or job address within 30 days of the first.
Non-covered services: requests for work the partnership agreement does not cover.

To request a credit, the partner flags the lead on the statement or by email within 72 hours of receiving it, with a one-line reason. We check the recording or form against this policy and reply within one business day. Requests made after 72 hours are not accepted, because the facts are clearest early and the rule keeps each statement final.

Under per-qualified-lead pricing, a credited lead comes off the invoice. Under a flat monthly fee, a credited lead comes off the qualified count on the statement, which is the number both sides use to judge the market. Leads are not credited because the partner missed the call, the contact hired someone else, or the job was smaller than hoped.

Exclusivity

Each market has one partner. While the partner holds it, WynterIX will not route, sell, share, or resell any lead from that property to anyone else, and will not offer the same market to another business. Exclusivity is set by covered service and covered territory, as written in the agreement.

Exclusivity covers the property named in the agreement. It does not restrict the partner's own marketing, and it cannot stop other businesses in the territory from advertising on their own. It means every lead this property produces goes to one business.

In return, the partner answers or returns leads promptly during business hours, as set in the agreement. Unanswered leads damage the property, so missed calls are logged on the statement with the time they rang.

Call recording and tracking

Every property uses a tracked phone number. Call tracking means each call is logged with its time, duration, caller number, and the page that produced it. Forms record their source page the same way, so every lead ties back to the property.

Calls are tracked and recorded for quality and dispute resolution where law permits. Where the law of the caller's or the partner's location requires notice or consent before recording, the line plays a recording notice. Recordings are shared with the partner and used to settle credit requests and disputes.

The partner is responsible for their own consent obligations. That includes any recording, texting, or automated calling the partner does on its own systems, and any follow-up after a lead arrives, under laws such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state call recording laws. WynterIX does not give legal advice on those obligations.

Term, notice, and reassignment

Every partnership starts with a ninety-day minimum. After that it runs month to month, and either side may end it with 30 days written notice. There is no setup fee, and nothing about the property passes to the partner at the end, because the partner never owned it.

Leads that arrive during the notice period still go to the partner. After the last day, the market reopens and WynterIX may offer it to another business.

WynterIX may reassign a market before the term ends only for a material breach that is not fixed after written notice. That means unpaid invoices, a sustained pattern of unanswered leads, conduct that harms the property's reputation, or work outside the law. The notice names the problem and the time allowed to fix it.

The partner may not assign the market to another business or pass its leads on to anyone else. If the partner sells its company, the agreement sets whether the market transfers with it.

Disputes

Most disagreements are about individual leads, and the credit process settles them. For anything else, the partner raises the issue in writing by email. We reply within one business day, review the recordings and statements involved, and give a decision in writing with the reason.

If the partner does not accept the decision, the founder reviews it on a call with the partner's decision-maker. If that does not settle it, the dispute terms of the signed partnership agreement apply.

Nothing in this policy limits either side's rights under the signed agreement or under the law. If you have questions before you apply, send them with your market availability request.