During the economic recession, is it good to increase pressure on the sales team to achieve targets, or lay off staff to reduce cost and increase profit?

during hard economic times, it is often the first step any company takes, to lay off on the staff, in retro spec, staff salaries are a small fraction of daily opertional costs, other factors need to be taken into consideration first, eg: is it viable to stay in the expensive mall shop to hope and achieve retail benchmarks? might it not be finacially more feasible to let staff work from home, selling online, or old school door to door sales?

to Increase pressure on a sales team is an easy way to pass the buck, the sales team need guidance, becasue as you, they are also at a loss because of economic resession, so re-cap where you are, what your goals and objectives were, and where you are now, plan another strategy, do away with expenses that can be better applied in keeping your core staff, letting staff go is in my opinion the last resort, after ALL other stops have been pulled.

You should try both sides as if one side fails then the other one will be supporting.