BizResearcher has a great (unfortunate) example of the type of mistakes many businesses often make. One thing that I've seen lits of businesses do during slower times or down economies is cut back on marketing. When in fact that's really when you should do a larger push in your marketing efforts. Ideally you've used the 'up' times to really build a strong business and good relationships with your clients so that when the slower times hit you still have a steady revenue source. BUT many businesses don;t do this enough. So I'd have to say: Marketing (not enough) Following up with past clients (not enough) Asking for referral businesss (definitely not enough) Staying in the black and not going into debt (many take out loans to try and float, but that just increases their stress) Hope that helps.

There are the obvious ones, such as financing in a down economy. There are also other issues that may seem less obvious. Personally, as a business owner, I look for businesses that offer my clients the best customer service. When the economy is like it is, if two businesses are equally established and funded, the one offering the better customer experience is the one that will thrive. Unfortunately, I am seeing a surprising number of businesses that don't understand that. For instance, I had a conference at a hotel with over 200 attendees, many of whom were coming from out of town. Without informing anyone, the hotel front desk manager made the decision to discontinue their airport shuttle service at 5 p.m. and limit it during the day. When do most business travelers arrive? In the evening. When they called the hotel, they were told to take a taxi. When the conference hosts complained, the hotel ended up comping 3 rooms and reimbursing everyone who paid taxi fare. The brilliant idea to save a few dollars on the salary of the shuttle driver ended up costing the hotel hundreds of dollars in lost revenue and created a negative perception in the eyes of many of the attendees. I am sure there are other issues like this out there, including slow delivery on inventory orders, which in turn affect a business's ability to fill orders.