Avoid mistakes selling in a recession.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: GROWTH - Brief article

As the global economy continues to be difficult, most businesses appreciate they won't get different results by doing things the same way.

Since many of today's managers haven't lived through challenging times in their career, Nicholas Read, author of Selling to the C-Suite (Mc-Graw Hill, 2010), offers tips from former executives at companies who successfully survived the 1970s stock-market crash and 1990s dot-com bubble for achieving sustainable growth, even through the recession:

1 Ignoring the problem. Fear and panic can cause indecision and leaders failing to evaluate options remain with the status quo. Do the opposite: Take swift action.

2 Increase advertising. Consulting firm P1MS Associates reports how companies that advertise more grow faster over the long-term than those that fall off their customers' radar.

3 Cutting...