Expand when others contract to gain share, talent, and attention

When the market wobbled, most firms went quiet. One regional services company did the opposite. In the first week of the slowdown, the CEO gathered her team around a conference table that smelled faintly of dry erase markers and coffee. “We’re cutting waste, not engines,” she said, circling two budget lines in green: outbound and content. Travel perks went red. Prospecting stayed bright green.

They listed five expansion plays on the whiteboard: increase outbound by 3x, publish twice‑weekly field notes, launch a low‑risk trial, recruit talent from paused competitors, and negotiate long‑term ad rates while CPMs were low. Week one, they front‑loaded action. The office buzzed with calls. A senior account exec joined from a larger firm that had frozen hiring. By week three, inbound inquiries ticked up, not because the economy recovered, but because potential clients saw the only team still showing up with useful ideas.

A friend’s shop took the classic cautious route. They cut prospecting, delayed content, and waited for clarity. Six months later, they were fighting over a smaller pie with every other cautious player. Meanwhile, the first company had scooped up attention, two anchor clients, and a pipeline that carried them through the slump.

Contrarian expansion during downturns works because share of voice and talent get cheaper when others retreat. Attention is a market, too. Guardrails matter: maintain cash minimums, monitor weekly pipeline health, and commit to helpful content, not noise. It’s not recklessness, it’s antifragility—growing stronger through volatility by leaning into activities that compound when the field is thin.

Draft five concrete expansion plays you’ll run in a slowdown, then audit your spending and mark green the engines that create pipeline while cutting true waste. Front‑load visibility with practical publishing and outreach while competitors go silent, and set simple guardrails—cash floors, weekly pipeline metrics, and decision triggers—so you’re bold, not blind. Put the first two plays on your calendar for this week and brief your team on the color‑coded budget today.