Oh! the world is in recession, people are cutting jobs, productions, marketing budgets and everything which is associated with a cost centre. While most people look at this situation in a negative way my take is a bit different....

This is the best time to spot opportunities in problems - and a recession can be a real problem. And there’s the opportunity as Everyone wants their problems solved.

Over the past few years when the economy went to its peak... salaries went up 2-3 times, rent almost doubled, attrition was at its all time high and companies had to what I call ‘over eat’, recruit extra people to take care of attrition, take extra office space to account for growth etc in shot most companies over a period of time grew a lot of Flab!

So one interesting thing is in this time most of the cost you would save would not really result in any major productivity loss...

Let me give you an example for a company with 100 employees and a 10% per month attrition rate (very common in India) most companies would typically hire 120 people so that they would also have a small buffer to work on in case the people leave. In a boom market this worked well.

Almost immediately Cut your flab

But during recession where attrition rates have dropped to 0 and 1% it is sensible to get yourself back to the 100 employee strength you wanted to always be... so technically you have had an approx 20% reduction but in reality no real change in productivity.

Increase Productivity
Talking of productivity, this is really the best period for you to come together as a team. As the key task for any company is during this time is to show bottom line... and employees are smart.

When most of them are seeing their friends and batch mates loosing their jobs in the market you can expect almost 100% support in activities which can generate extra productivity. So be creative and see what works best for you.

Focus on Marketing
Whatever may be your product or service there could not be a better time to start marketing. Yes I know this sounds counter intuitive but ask any marketing guy and you will get the facts. The advertising costs are at an all time low, in on-line advertising guys who were during the peak refusing to do Cost per Click based advertising are now ready to work on Cost Per Lead! There is very less clutter and the chances of consumers recalling your ads at all time high. All you an do a lot of marketing swap deals. This is time time where everyone is open to ideas..if you show show a little money. Besides when customers, employees and others see you advertising however small.. it shows you are STRONG.

Don’t say NO to business
In the good days you had many options and therefore you could always choose the best deals but during this time get what you can get... however big or small.. the only 2 criteria you can apply depending on deal to deal is a) Am I making money in this transaction 2) Is this strategic enough if I am doing it at a loss or break even

The world is flat
Most organization during the growth process add a lot of layers in the hierarchy. There as Managers and Assistant managers and supervisors.. this is the best time for your leaders to take additional responsibilities as them if they can do more and see where you can cut levels...as much as possible. Once again this should not have much impact on productivity

Meet Meet Meet
This is also the perfect time to go out in the market and meet your customers, media,employees, investors, key influencers almost anyone you have in mind. Remember most companies have implemented a travel ban... because of this all the people are on the ground and unlike the good times don’t have a barrage of people waiting for them at the lobby. You will get all your meetings and more that average time from these people.

Renegotiate with every vendor
This is also the time to go and have a chat with your landlord, stationary supplier, travel agent, computer hardware provider, hosting provider and everyone you can think of. They will all be willing you give you a small or big break depending on the situation but you must surely try.

Share good news! and Blog

People love to read positive and good news specially in the time of gloom. Everyday they read the newspapers and check internet sites which talk about how bad their situation is going to be. It is positive news during this time which is consumed very well and passed around.
The fact that you are reading this post is proof to that...

have fun and slim down during this recession so that you are ready to RUN when the good times are back439989