If the growth in GDP is negative for two successive quarters, then an economist would say that recession has set in; but let me give you a more understandable definition. Once upon a time two young boys thought nothing could make better business sense than selling “laddoos” as “prashad” near the town temple. They invested their meager savings and soon started peddling laddoos but not one got sold in spite of hectic marketing efforts, that day. Tired, penniless and hungry they met under the nearby tree and one of them took out the only rupee in his pocket and purchased one laddoo from his friend and gulped it down. The other guy who now had one rupee, gave it back and also purchased one laddoo. Within fifteen minutes, the same rupee had changed hands umpteen times with the net result that there were no laddoos left with either of them and together they still had the same one rupee amongst them. During a recession there is thus shortage of money and also demand in the market place. Organizations being forced to spend for their fixed overheads quickly manage to therefore paint their balance sheets, red. How do we gear up our marketing efforts during such an economic slowdown?

Never cut marketing efforts in a recession.

It would be “dumb” to downsize the marketing department during a recession, though that’s what would be ordered for other departments. Remember! You need to contact more customers during a recession in order to get the same business and to do this one requires more ‘feet’ in the marketplace. Increase your marketing efforts immediately.

Focus more powerfully on what the customer wants.

The success of a marketing person is directly proportional to the accuracy with which he or she identifies why the customer buys his product or service. Contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to identify the customer-need. Try writing down on a piece of paper why people eat ice cream or why they buy Matiz (& not a Maruti). During a slowdown, go back to the basics.

Pay 1000% more attention to customer complaints.

Research says that only “loyal” customers complain; so don’t get angry at them. Research further says that a large proportion of unhappy customers don’t complain – they just switch to the competitors. Did you know that getting a new customer is about five times costlier than retaining an old one? Complaints are thus the best opportunities to improve.

Cut marketing administration costs to the bone.

Though downsizing is a no-no, cost-cutting is not. Tell your salespersons to travel by train. Ask them to entertain clients in less swanky joints. How on earth will the client believe that you are going through a lean patch if you continue using your unlimited expense account?.

Use less expensive but more effective ways to reach your customer.

An interesting study says that a person working in a metropolis is exposed to an average number of 550 “sales-pitches” in a day. This includes TV and the hoardings and ads that he encounters on way to work & back. Out of these only 76 messages register on his brain. After twelve hours he can recall only 10, three of which have a negative connotation. How can a marketer elbow his way through all this, into the customers’ mind? The problem is compounded during recession. Examine if you can use more cost-effective methods to reach there. Can direct mailing help? Will telemarketing enhance your reach? Both these are proven tools in the hands of a seasoned marketing person. An economic slowdown calls for more “innovation” in almost everything that you do in your bid to get the attention of the customer.

It is not as if the above strategies are not important during normal times. These are the vital ones to be pursued with extra vigour during a recession, unless of course, you want to be like those two chaps who started the day with laddoos and one rupee but ended it with no laddoos and the same one rupee.

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page." He invites reactions on creativepds@satyam.net.in