APX Kicked Out of Carson City, NV

What happens when your only form of selling gets shut down? Well, you're done. Simple as that. Obviously door-to-door sales is an extreme form of direct push selling. You go to them, present to them, sell to them. 99% of all sales done by summer sales companies come through this kind of selling. Going directly through them. (I would probably say it is 100% but, there is some poor dude sitting in a cubicle waiting for his phone to ring to go out on a referral or a response to a yellow pages ad). But, it is interesting as you think of it, what other companies go directly to the customers with no previous contact? Tele-marketers are the only one that come to my mind, and the government laid down an authoritative hammer on that one with the do-not-call list. Sure, there are outside sales in most industries but the vast majority of those go to business', not homeowners. Can you think of any other forms of selling or even companies that go directly to the homeowners? Let me know if you have!

Now, knowing door-to-door is your lifeline, what if a city lays down the hammer on a company? Well, as I said, they are done. I found an article from 2006 where Carson City, NV got fed up with the pushy sales tactics and they pushed back, hard. Now, I will be the first one to defend APX, they sell a lot, they are pioneers in this industry, but if they have a flaw, it is that they are careless. And that carelessness will be their ultimate downfall. They step on a lot of people's toes. And this case is no different. This summer, without a doubt, APX will be on some small town midwest news show about how they are scamming the neighborhood. Jack Inbar will then show how much he cares, go to that small town for a few hours, visit with some customers, give them a few freebies, and then say say it is all good, and he is off back to his retreat in Utah.

I love these articles, they always have the same characters. There is always the sales manager who pulls the "they are just poor college students working for the summer" card, and there is always the police guy who wants to bust these people in anyway possible because they are getting calls that the residents are being hassled. He just wants a peaceful afternoon, and if anybody upsets that he gets pissed. Then the argument pursues:

"It seems the only people harassed here are our employees, most of whom are college students working their way through school," said Alex Dunn, APX Alarm vice president of business development.

My favorite part is when this Alex Dunn character says that by pulling the permits the sheriff is "denying more Carson City residents access to its security system."

What? How is he denying them? They can still install and sell, they just can't go door-to-door. Oh, you mean the only thing they do is go door-to-door? Well then, that does screw them. They are a trick pony. When that trick gets old, then what? Now, this is for another day, but what happens when the lifecycle of the door-to-door alarm salesman ends? Then what is APX and all the other companies to do? I see a dead end.