Comparing Rival Digital? Read this first

Rival Digital vs LSM:
Custom retainer, or price on the page?

  • Rival Digital: respected HVAC-focused agency (founded 2020, 40+ team, 5.0 stars on 33+ Google reviews) — retainers are custom-quoted.
  • No upfront project fee is their model; the monthly number still comes from a sales conversation.
  • LSM: $699 / $1,499 / $2,450 per month printed right here — month-to-month, and the ad account, landing page, and call tracking are YOURS.
See the side-by-side →
The honest verdict

Rival Digital is one of the good ones.
The comparison is model vs model, not good vs bad.

Let me be straight with you: Rival Digital is a quality shop. Founded in 2020 by Eric Thomas — a guy who actually apprenticed in commercial HVAC before doing marketing — grown to a 40+ person team, sitting on a 5.0-star Google rating across 33+ reviews. Clients say they do what they promise. In this industry, that’s not nothing. If you want a full-service HVAC agency with a human team on your account, they belong on your list.

The difference is the model. Rival runs custom retainers — no upfront project fee, which is fair, but the monthly number and the scope come out of a sales conversation, not a pricing page. And as with most full-service agencies, you should ask the ownership question before signing: whose name is on the ad account, the website, the call tracking? Get it in writing.

LSM removes both conversations. The price is printed: $699 / $1,499 / $2,450 per month, no setup fee, month-to-month, 7-day full money-back guarantee. And the ownership answer is structural, not contractual: the Google Ads account, the landing page, and the call tracking numbers are opened in your name from day one. An AI trained on 8,600+ real coaching sessions manages it daily; I oversee it personally; you approve everything before it goes live.

Rival DigitalLocal Service Mastery (LSM AI)
What it isFull-service HVAC/home-services agency: SEO, PPC, websites, content, local searchDone-for-you Google Ads + your own AI account manager, personally overseen by Lior
Published pricingNot published — custom retainers tailored per client (no upfront project fee)Public, on the page: $699 / $1,499 / $2,450 per month. No setup fee
Reviews5.0 stars, 33+ Google reviews — genuinely well-regarded15 years, 500+ local service owners coached, $20M+ client revenue
Who owns the ad account & siteNot stated publicly — ask and get it in writingYou. Ad account, landing page, call tracking — your name, forever
CommitmentRetainer terms set per engagement — confirm before signingMonth-to-month. Cancel anytime. 7-day full money-back guarantee
ScopeBroad: SEO + paid + web + content under one roofOne thing deep: high-intent Google Search that makes the phone ring
Day-to-day managementHuman account teamAI checks bids and search terms daily, trained on 8,600+ coaching sessions; Lior oversees
Time to launchAgency onboarding cycle — ask for a dateYou approve everything; live in ~48 hours after setup

Rival Digital details from public sources (rivaldigital.com, designrush.com) as of July 2026. Pricing and terms change — confirm directly with Rival Digital. Rival Digital® is a trademark of its respective owner. Local Service Mastery is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Rival Digital. Comparison is based on publicly available information (rivaldigital.com, designrush.com) as of July 2026; features and pricing change — verify all details directly with the vendor.

Why this matters

A good agency can still leave you renting. Ownership isn’t about niceness — it’s about structure.

Here’s something 15 years taught me: the ownership problem isn’t a villain problem. Plenty of decent, hard-working agencies default to running your campaigns out of their accounts, hosting your site on their stack, routing calls through their tracking — not to trap you, just because it’s operationally easier for them. Then one day you part ways, amicably even, and discover the lead machine was never structurally yours.

So when you evaluate a well-reviewed shop like Rival Digital — and they are well-reviewed — ask the boring questions early: whose Google Ads account? Whose website login? Whose tracking numbers? Who keeps the campaign history and the negative keyword lists if we split? A good agency will answer in writing. A great deal is when the answer to all of it is ‘yours.’

At LSM the answer is yours by construction. Your HVAC company’s ad account, your landing page, your numbers — built in your name in about 48 hours after setup, managed daily by our AI, overseen personally by me, every change approved by you. 15–40 qualified calls per month typical in a medium market with a $1,000 ad budget — run the free estimate for your market. Cancel anytime; the machine stays. — Lior Vaknin, founder, Local Service Mastery

— Lior Vaknin, founder, Local Service Mastery

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Real owners · Real results

Don't take my word for it.

See it in action

How LSM AI Works

The honest truth

Agency vs. owning it.

The agency model
  • $2,000–$5,000/month in fees just to manage your account
  • They own your Google Ads account — you start from zero when you leave
  • Random results. No explanation of why.
  • Zero visibility into what they're actually doing
The LSM way
  • From $699/month — less than one job is worth
  • Your Google Ads account. Your campaigns. Your data — always.
  • AI manages it daily. Full transparency — you see every decision.
  • Cancel anytime. Your campaigns stay yours forever.
Month-to-month · No contracts · Cancel anytime

Pick your plan.

Everything built inside your accounts. Owned by you.

Starter
$699/mo
Most popular
Growth
$1,499/mo
Pro
$3,500/mo
Enterprise
Custom
Book a call
Included in every plan
Google Ads campaign built for you
High-converting landing page
Call tracking setup
Competitor click blocking
Daily AI optimization & negative keywords
Monthly performance report
LSM AI manager — 24/7 Q&A on your account
Campaigns & coverage
New campaigns per month1/moUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
Cities coveredStart with 1Full areaFull areaFull area
Campaign duplication
Support & extras
SupportStandardPriorityLiveDedicated
Local SEO management
Facebook / Meta Ads management
ChatGPT Ads management
Full LSM training access
Weekly group coaching with Lior
White-label & custom solutions
Book a call
$699/mo
  • Included in every plan
  • Google Ads campaign built for you
  • High-converting landing page
  • Call tracking setup
  • Competitor click blocking
  • Daily AI optimization
  • Monthly performance report
  • LSM AI manager 24/7
  • Campaigns
  • 1 new campaign per month
  • Start with 1 city
  • Campaign duplication
  • Support
  • Standard support
Free · Real Google data · 60 seconds

How many calls can your market get?

Real numbers — pulled straight from Google Ads. Not an agency pitch. 🎯

$ /mo

No credit card  ·  No commitment  ·  We verify your details before showing results

The LSM way

How it works.

The opposite of an agency. We build it inside your accounts. You own it all.

1

Pick your plan

One city or your whole service area. The free audit tells you exactly what to expect in your market.

2

Your LSM AI builds everything

Your AI marketing manager builds your Google Ads, call tracking, fraud protection, and landing page — inside your accounts. You approve before a single dollar is spent.

3

Your phone starts ringing

Most clients are live within 48 hours. Your AI optimizes bids and keywords daily — results compound over time.

Google Ads campaign (your account) Call tracking setup Competitor click blocking High-converting landing page Daily bid & keyword optimization Monthly performance report You own every account, always Personal LSM AI manager 24/7 Q&A in Lior's voice 7-day money-back guarantee
Real client wins and results using LSM
Included in every plan

Your own AI account manager.

Built on 8,600+ real LSM coaching sessions. Trained in Lior's exact voice.

⚡ Powered by LSM AI · Trained on 8,600+ real LSM coaching sessions
🔐

It already knows everything about you

The moment you sign up, your LSM AI knows your plan, your city, your service. No setup call. No briefing a stranger.

🏗️

Builds your entire setup — while you watch

Google Ads. Call tracking. Fraud protection. Your landing page. Built inside your accounts, step by step.

Nothing goes live without your sign-off

Before a single dollar is spent, your AI walks you through everything it built. You approve. Then it goes live.

💬

On call 24/7 — in Lior's exact voice

Ask it anything, anytime. 8,600+ real LSM coaching answers. Available instantly.

claude
Membership verified — Growth plan · Dallas TX
Client profile loaded — HVAC, 3 cities
Building your Google Ads campaign…
Campaign created (PAUSED for review)
47 keywords added across 3 ad groups
3 responsive ads created
Setting up call tracking…
4 tracking numbers created
Call tracking installed on your site
Competitor click blocking active
Building landing page…
Site backed up · Page builder detected
Landing page live at dallas-hvac.yourdomain.com
Everything looks good. Budget: $75/day · Targeting: Dallas 25mi · Ready to go live?
You: Yes, turn it on.
Campaigns activated. Your phone should start ringing.
Real session · Google Ads + Call Tracking + Landing Page built in one go
Free · 2 minutes · No call required

See what your market can do.

Real estimate — pulled directly from Google's own data. Not a made-up projection. 🎯

No credit card  ·  No call  ·  Results in 30 seconds

If this sounds familiar…

You've been burned before.

🔒

They own your accounts. Not you.

The day you leave an agency, your Google Ads account, tracking numbers, and landing page are gone. You spent $30,000 building their asset.

💸

The reports look great. The phone doesn't ring.

Impressions. Clicks. CTR. Beautiful PDF every month. But when you ask how many jobs you closed — nobody has a straight answer.

🤷

You ask a question. You get an email 48 hours later.

You need answers now. A human account manager you can never reach isn't service — it's a subscription to uncertainty.

Still got questions?

15 minutes with me. No pitch.

Not sure which plan fits your market? Book a free 15-minute call. I'll tell you honestly if I can help — and if I can't, I'll tell you that too.

— Lior

Lior Vaknin
Who's behind this

I'm Lior. 15 years making sure you never get locked out of your own marketing again.

I built Local Service Mastery because I watched too many great contractors get burned by agencies — overcharged, locked out, left with nothing. So I flipped the model: your accounts, your data, your asset. We build it. You own it.

500+owners coached
$20M+revenue generated
15+years in the game

Peace,
Lior Vaknin

Good questions

Questions,
answered.

Is LSM a replacement for Rival Digital?

Not across their whole menu. Rival is a full-service agency — SEO, websites, content, local search — with a strong human team. We deliberately don’t do SEO retainers, social posting, or website redesigns. We do one thing deep: a Google Ads lead machine you own, managed daily by AI with my oversight. If you want a broad program with a dedicated human account manager, Rival may be your pick — we’ll tell you honestly on the call.

How much does Rival Digital cost?

They don’t publish pricing — retainers are custom-tailored per client, though they note there’s no upfront project fee (rivaldigital.com, July 2026). Ask for the monthly number, the scope, and the ownership terms in writing. LSM’s pricing is on this page: $699, $1,499, or $2,450 per month, no setup fee, month-to-month, with a 7-day full money-back guarantee.

Does LSM work for HVAC companies like Rival Digital’s clients?

HVAC is the heart of what we do — emergency AC repair and no-heat searches are the highest-intent clicks in local marketing. Same machine we’ve run for 15 years across 500+ local service owners: Google Search in your city, dedicated landing page, call tracking, daily AI bid management, all in your name. Run the free estimate for your market first.

Rival Digital has great reviews — why consider anything else?

Their reviews are real and deserved. The question isn’t quality, it’s model: custom-quoted retainer vs published pricing, agency-managed breadth vs one owned channel, terms-per-engagement vs month-to-month. If you want price certainty, 48-hour launch, and structural ownership of the ad account and landing page, that’s the LSM side of the table. Some owners run both — SEO with an agency, owned paid search with us.

Which plan should I pick?

Start with Starter if you want to get your phone ringing in one city and grow from there — one new campaign gets added each month. Go with Growth if you're ready to cover your full service area right away. Pro adds local SEO, Facebook Ads, and weekly coaching with me directly. If you're still not sure, run the free audit — it'll tell you what to expect in your market.

How fast will my ads go live?

Most clients are live within 48 hours of completing setup. Your LSM AI builds everything, you review and approve, then it goes live. The only exception is if Google requires advanced verification for your category (locksmith, garage door) — that's a direct process between you and Google, and we walk you through it.

What results can I expect?

Depends on your trade, your city, and your ad budget. The free audit gives you a real estimate pulled directly from Google's own Ads data — not a made-up projection. In a medium-to-large market with a $1,000/month ad budget, most clients get 15–40 qualified calls per month. Run the audit first to see what's realistic in your specific area.

Do I really own everything?

Yes. The Google Ads account, the call tracking numbers, the landing page — all built inside your accounts, in your name. If you ever cancel, you walk away with everything you paid to build. That's not a policy. That's the whole point.

Is there a contract?

No contract, ever. Every plan is month-to-month. Cancel anytime — if we stop earning your business, you should stop paying.

What if I already have my own call tracking or fraud protection?

No problem. You can connect your existing accounts, or we set everything up fresh for you. Your call — you pick during onboarding.

I'm a locksmith or garage door company. Anything I should know?

Yes — Google requires advanced verification for locksmith and garage door services before ads can run. We build your campaign and all your keywords, but you'll need to complete that verification with Google directly (we walk you through it). If for any reason you can't complete it, you're covered by our full 7-day refund.

Do you work with my trade?

We specialize in home and local services — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, locksmith, garage door, pest control, carpet cleaning, water damage, tree service, and more. Run the free audit and you'll instantly see if we're a fit.

What exactly is my LSM AI account manager?

It's your personal AI marketing manager — trained on 8,600+ real LSM coaching sessions. Sign up and it's ready to go: builds your full campaign setup inside your accounts, reviews everything with you before anything goes live, and stays on 24/7 to answer any question about your campaigns, leads, or marketing strategy. In Lior's exact voice.

What's the 7-day money-back guarantee?

If you sign up and decide within 7 days that this isn't right for you — for any reason — you get a full refund. No hoops. We'd rather lose a bad fit early than keep a client who isn't seeing value.

Stop renting leads.

Check your market, pick your plan, or grab 15 minutes with me. Let's get your phone ringing.

See what your market can do

Your trade