The law firm had recently cancelled its radio and television advertising.

“We got great results from the campaign for a long time,” the managing partner told me. “But it hasn’t been working the last three or four months.”

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The personal injury firm had been advertising an “accident book”  — a short book on what to do in the event of an auto accident. Radio listeners and television viewers were directed to a special website where they had to enter their name, address, and email address in order to get the book.

In the internet marketing world, this is known as a Lead Magnet. 

Back in my hotel room that night, I decided to test their system. I went to the website, filled in my information, and hit Submit.

Here’s what I saw next:

Identifying details have been deliberately blurred.

I tried three times to order the book, and got the same screen each time. When I met with the law firm again I showed them a screen shot, and asked, “How long has this been happening?”

The managing partner admitted he had no idea. “I guess we haven’t checked things in a while.”

“I can’t prove it,” I replied. “But there’s a pretty good chance your radio and TV ads were working fine. If the first exposure they have to your firm is a non-working web page, they’re not going to call you, and you’ll never know who they are.”

That same week, in the same market, I met with the owner of a moving and storage company. They had all the customers they could handle — what they needed was employees. They’d been running recruitment ads online, without much success.

Preparing for a follow-up meeting, I took a look at the company’s “Careers” page. It looked like this:

Identifying details have been deliberately blurred.

The company had lots of positions available. But visitors to their website wouldn’t know that. 

These sorts of oversights are distressingly common. 

• I’ve seen incorrect phone numbers in ads.
• Links from social media go to “404 Not Found” pages.
• Banner ads for specific products go to the advertiser’s home page, which has no information about the product being advertised.
• “E-commerce” sites make it hard for people to find items or make a purchase.

Potential customers and applicants follow the call-to-action, and wind up confused.

Confused people do nothing.

And the advertiser shakes their head and says, “I tried [name of your medium] and it didn’t work.”

As advertising sales professionals, we can say, “Our responsibility is to bring the prospects to their door. If they can’t convert them, it’s not our fault.”

I’ve talked to plenty of salespeople and sales managers who have taken that position. They’re not wrong.

But when the advertiser cancels the campaign, the money comes out of your pocket no matter whose fault it was.

My position is this: If you’re an Account Executive, your responsibility is to execute. That means putting in the extra time and effort to make sure the sales funnel’s working properly. 

Before the ad goes on the air, ask, “What’s the call-to-action? What is the prospect expected to do as a result of seeing or hearing the commercial?”

Then, pretend to be a customer. Take the action.

• If the commercial directs people to a website, go to the site. What do you see? Does the site pass the “Mom Test?” Will prospects know what to do next, or will they be confused?
• If there’s an inquiry form on the site, fill in your information and submit it. What happens next? How long does it take to get a response.
• If the ad tells people to call a phone number, grab your cell phone and call it. Does the right department answer?
• Does the store have the merchandise in stock? Do the clerks know where it is?

Do this before the ad hits the air. If you find a problem, alert your client. If necessary, delay the campaign launch until the problem can be fixed.

In the short term, this will be an inconvenience, and might even cost you some revenue if a schedule has to be moved. 

But in the long term, you’ll have a happier client who trusts you to give them advice that gets them results.

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