"Although I've never been hardly hit by a recession myself, I can imagine how difficult it would be to be working in sales or business development when people aren't in a great position to be buying. The first thing I would do is check on our current clientele and what's in the pipeline. My colleagues and I will connect with clients and prospects to find out how they're doing and if they foresee any budget cuts that may affect our relationship with them. This way, we can better plan for the long term and set realistic revenue and profit margin goals. We'll also work with our best customers to strengthen those relationships and help their businesses thrive through the downturn.

Another aspect I could look at is our product or service cost structure. I can find out if there's anything we can change to make it more accessible to a wider client base. There's no need to develop new offerings because that means we have to spend. We have to make our current ones more agile for the economy. We have to be careful about sustainability, though. Overall, my strategy will be to think about everything for the long haul and not be overly reactive."