The discussion on my Firstline posts has been very interesting. I’ve had comments from Firstline employees, past and present that bring a well-rounded point of view to the whole discussion.

Mike has also been writing a series of posts about his Firstline experience that illustrate and highlight the issues that I’ve mentioned.

Many of the commenters who are pro-Firstline insist that I’m wrong, that it’s a great, career-building company to work for, that it is a terrific jump-start to a successful future. However, those commenters are also much longer-term employees. Some with as much as five years under their belts. I’ve had protests over characterizing the sales techniques as deceptive, with protests that they are not trained to be deceptive at all, just assertive. I stand by my characterization of the techniques as deceptive, particularly the slamming of customers who already have a security system. That technique is outlined in the official literature and training materials, so I have no option but to believe the company stands behind it and expects their salespeople to employ it.

However, my outrage at Firstline Security and their recruiting/sales techniques doesn’t extend to all direct sales companies, nor does it extend to all self-produced reality shows. As an example, the post I wrote on Rockstartup just below this one applauds the efforts of Ted Murphy et al to self-produce a reality show with an eye to marketing it to the networks. But there’s a clear and stark difference between RockStartUp and the Prodigy. For the sake of this comparison, I will at least assume that if Firstline can, they will try to market something like a reality show to broadcast and/or cable networks, even though I think it was really a ploy to recruit employees who might otherwise not have given them a second look.

Here are some basic differences:

Rockstartup centers around Ted Murphy and his efforts with PayPerPost. While employees are featured in different episodes, as are Posties, their employment is not tied to their participation. Their appearances are intended to put exclamation points on the process of beginning a disruptive and innovative Internet company that’s in the center of a ton of controversy. There are central characters, a conflict, and some creative (as well as occasionally entertaining) moments.

The Prodigy purports to center around the efforts of 2,000 students recruited from across the nation to meet “challenges”. The participation of the students in the first “challenge” is really the summer-long direct sales stint in the location of Firstline managers’ choice. Employment (and continued “show participation”) is contingent upon their willingness to continue closing same-day deals and earning money for the company.

Rockstartup is focused on creating a new company in a new space. The Prodigy focuses on making profits for an existing company in an existing, saturated space.

Speaking as someone who is occasionally entertained but never committed to some reality shows, I can say that any show that focuses on the travails of students struggling to make a living in a nearly-impossible environment interests me less (as in, not at all) than seeing Mike Arrington’s indictment of Ted Murphy roll away from Ted and back into Arrington’s lap. Not to mention Loren Feldman — what’s not to love about Loren? But whether I’m entertained or not is less important than whether there’s a realistic probability of marketing these shows to a broader audience.

I’d say that you’d be more likely to find The Prodigy as a late-night infomercial, frankly. Rockstartup might catch, but the TV channels are so full of reality shows that it’s more likely to end up as a viral Internet phenomenon. Still, comparing the two is a worthwhile venture, if for no other reason than to highlight the weaknesses in the efforts to insist that The Prodigy’s recruiting efforts last spring really were for this exclusive reality show, rather than just a new spin on a tired old saw.

Which brings me to my last point…the whole question of direct sales. Let me be clear here: I do not think all direct sales are evil. I think they’re a fairly insane way to market in this day of the internet, social networks, ubiquitous access to products and information, and our current ad-driven age. But still, direct sales have a place in all of that. The “Will it Blend” site is an example of direct sales crossover. I suspect that there was a whole lot of direct blending going on before iPhones were dropped into one of them. And for a product like that, direct sales make sense — the consumer sees how the product differs from every other product out there.

Liz highlights some other summer direct sales jobs that students take, including Southwestern (book sales) and Cutco Cutlery. However, those two companies, along with other companies Liz mentions, are selling a tangible product that the consumer can see, touch, evaluate and hold. Selling a service is another matter entirely, and Liz’ post does a great job of highlighting the differences between the two.

The Firstline model depends upon the impulse buy, and uses fear as the spark for the impulse. As one commenter notes, after a group of residents was scammed by someone posing as a security salesman and then robbing those same homeowners, sales skyrocketed in that area, because it was easy enough to walk in after such an incident and be the hero. They count on the same-day close, sold by a fresh-faced clean cut “advertising director”, and a climate of fear to sell a service, which is then installed by untrained installers (see Mike’s post), and is nearly impossible to get away from even when the homeowner sells their home.

I’ll take books, knives and blenders over that any day, and I’d suggest that students consider doing the same before signing on for a summer of trudge and drudge.

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