My business coach always told me there are only two things that are worthy of your time – increasing sales or decreasing expenses. Everything else is waste.

renegotiate your contracts to take advantage of the recession Not long ago I had lunch with a CEO friend and advisor, whom I’ll call Bill, who is currently in the process of building his second billion dollar company – and is well on his way I might add.  I love meeting with Bill because he not only freely talks to me about his company and the initiatives he has underway, he actually seems eager to tell me about what is going on.  In addition, he unemotionally details problems he’s working on solving, as well as explains how he is approaching it.  Needless to say I always learn so much.

Bill’s current company is a high-end membership, luxury resort destination club for the wealthy.  He owns palatial property all over the world that members use for vacations and/or business – everything from beachfront property to ski resorts to metropolitan destinations, such as Manhattan or Paris.  So on one side the company is a real estate sales and management company, and on the other it is a membership sales and management company.

When Bill showed up for our lunch he told me how busy they are taking advantage of the recession – which took me by surprise and made me wonder how he was "taking advantage" of the recession.  As he elaborated, he told me of one line item for a number of properties he owns in the Bahamas and how a particular vendor of propane – used merely for his hottubs and outdoor grills – was charging astronomical rates.  During the downturn, contacting this vendor to renegotiate the contract is not only acceptable, it’s almost expected.  How relenting do you think this vendor be with the alternative of a great customer needing to go elsewhere?

In another example, a bank where Bill has numerous loans for his properties had been charging a pre-recession interest rate.  On initial contact, the bank simply refused to work on different terms, so Bill cautioned the bank that he may have no other alternative but to turn the properties over to the bank.  Interestingly, the bank didn’t want those properties back in their management in this economy and was happy to renegotiate.

Use the state of the economy to your advantage.  Renegotiate contracts so you can free up cash flow to use for business growth.  Perhaps you should create a special project to have your salespeople making those calls.  Perhaps you should hire a bulldog consultant that is good at negotiations (hint).  Either way, it’s money in your pocket.