If the economic turmoil has you down around the office, try these five tips for spreading cheer from Kristin Tillquist, author of “Capitalizing on Kindness.”

1. Create a healthy “kindness reserve account.” By doing favors for others in your professional life, each small kindness you bestow on others accrues to your account of kindness capital – it works like a real account that you can cash in to gain a helping hand, favorable contract terms or repeat business when you and your business need it.

2. Build a caring reputation. Your customers will be loyal and committed to your business services and products – even when competition comes knocking. Remember, it is 5 to 12 times more expensive to gain a new customer than to keep an existing one, so treating your current customers well is even more important in a down economy. A caring reputation is like a well-placed investment, which pays dividends in the creation of business opportunities and referrals. Invest well.

3. Build your professional popularity. By being positive and helping others, you make promotions and plum positions more likely as people want to do business with you. A likeable personality not only helps you get where you want to be, but it also keeps you out of where you do not want to be. (Like out of work.) In the current economically challenging times, boosting your likeability will increase your job security!

4. Spread thanks around your workplace. Especially when times are tough and employees and business associates are stressed and overworked, appreciating and boosting the people you work with creates tremendous motivation, loyalty and redoubled efforts on your behalf – all factors that concretely improve your bottom line.

5. Choose to cooperate. Rather than compete when the going gets tough, businesses that pool resources, collaborate and forgo a “tit for tat” mentality find solid business partners, new and innovative collaborations, and increased resources for all. In a tight economy, businesses must find ways to expand the proverbial pie instead of letting the pie shrink as resources contract. The zero-sum mentality is a limiting one in business. We must let go of it in order to succeed in the 21st century.