Kenneth Cole is a shoe company that is very popular and famous. They advertise all over the place. In New York City, for example, you cannot get on a subway without seeing advertisements for Kenneth Cole.
When Kenneth Cole started, the way that shoe manufacturers got people to buy shoes from you was you would go to the shoe fair in Manhattan. Every company would take a room in the Hotel, and big buyers would go to the different rooms and pick which shoes they wanted.
However, Kenneth Cole did not have any money to get a room at the Hilton, so he convinced a friend of his to lend him a truck. He figured he was going to park the truck outside the hotel and sell shoes from the truck. His friend said, “I’ll gladly lend you the truck, but there is a problem. You cannot get a permit to park a truck in midtown Manhattan.”
At that point most people would say “The idea is dead in the water, I can’t park a truck there,” and they would give up on that and try to think of something else. But not Kenneth.
He went down to city hall and said, “Let me ask you a question. Is there any way whatsoever that you can get a permit to park a truck in midtown Manhattan?”
They said, “There is one way you can get a permit. The only way we will authorize a truck to be parked in midtown is if you’re shooting a movie.”
Kenneth went down to the stationery store and printed stationery that said “Kenneth Cole Productions”.
He then filed with the city that he was going to be making a movie called “The Makings of a Shoe Company” which is the reason he had to park his truck during the shoe festival outside the Hilton Hotel. He got the permit to park the truck, and in addition to the permit, the City of New York put two fine uniformed policemen at the entrance of the truck, because there was a movie being shot, to keep order.
A man with a video camera, which didn’t always have film in it, was paid to stand outside the truck. As people passed by on their way into the Shoe Show, they asked, “What’s this all about?”
He said, “We’re shooting a movie. We’re selling shoes. Do you want to be in the movie? Come into the truck.” He sold like thousands and thousands of pairs of shoes that day, from his truck, outside the event.
To succeed in business, you have to think differently, and never, ever, take no for an answer. There is always something you can do to make the idea work. Don’t feel like you’re stuck.
So how is this applicable to our situations, or said a little better how do you do both this advice (find a way) and the previous advice of give the market what they want not what you like?