Kenneth Cole's Creativity in Financing & Sales

[KRISARU.com]

It was 1982, and a young man named Kenneth Cole wanted to launch a
shoe company.

But, like many entrepreneurs, he had no money. He thought about going
to U.S. banks and factories for capital, but feared that this was a
long shot for him.

So, instead, he found a small Italian shoe production facility that
had been hit hard by the 80s economy and desperately needed more
clients. The company offered Kenneth a line of credit, and they
immediately started manufacturing shoes.

But now, he had to figure out how to sell them.

So here's what he did (in his own words):

"At the time, a shoe company had two options. You could get a room at
the Hilton [during the NY Shoe Expo] and become 1 of about 1100 shoe
companies selling their goods. This didn't provide the identity or
image I felt necessary for a new company, and it cost a lot more money
than I had to spend. The other way was to do what the big companies do
and get a fancy showroom in Midtown Manhattan not far from the Hilton.
More identity, much more money too.

I had an idea.

I called a friend in the trucking business and asked to borrow one of
his trucks to park in Midtown Manhattan. He said sure, but good luck
getting permission. I went to the Mayor's office, Koch at the time,
and asked how one gets permission to park a 40 foot trailer truck in
Midtown Manhattan. He said one doesn't. The only people the city gives
parking permits to are production companies shooting full length
motion pictures and utility companies like Con Ed or AT&T. So that day
I went to the stationery store and changed our company letterhead from
Kenneth Cole, Inc. to Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. and the next day
I applied for a permit to shoot a full length film entitled "The Birth
of a Shoe Company."

With Kenneth Cole Productions painted on the side of the truck, we
parked at 1370 6th Avenue, across from the New York Hilton, the day of
shoe show. We opened for business with a fully furnished 40 ft
trailer, a director (Sometimes there was film in the camera, sometimes
there wasn't), models as actresses, and two of New York's finest,
compliments of Mayor Koch, as our doormen. We sold 40 thousand pairs
of shoes in two and a half days (the entire available production) and
we were off and running.

To this day the company is still named Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.
and serves as a reminder to the importance of resourcefulness and
innovative problem solving."

Creativity enabled Kenneth Cole to gain financing and massive sales.
Without these creative ideas, we wouldn't know the name Kenneth Cole
today.

As an entrepreneur, you are most likely blessed with lots of creative
energy. Keep a notebook handy and write down all your ideas. Don't
only think of ideas for great products and services, but for
financing, marketing, sales, operations, etc.

There are no limits to what you can achieve when you come up with
ideas and execute on them.

To your success!