You may remember that we’ve been asking our small business customers to fill out a survey on healthcare, hiring, marketing and funding plans—and today we’re sharing the first set of results with you; how small businesses feel about healthcare reform and hiring. As the government debate on the hill continues to be covered in most of the top newspapers, our survey reveals what 831 small business owners think about a proposed healthcare offering, and other areas that matter most to their businesses. A huge thanks to all the VerticalResponse customers who took some time out of their day to add in their five cents! One of our customers even chimed in for the VerticalResponse press release. Theron Kabrich, CEO, San Francisco Art Exchange says “A public offering of healthcare unburdens small businesses and entrepreneurs alike, as it allows them to focus on core parts of their business such as innovations and new products. It also removes an unfair competitive advantage for small businesses when trying to attract the best employees, and levels the playing field.”

We regularly give our small business customers a pat on the back for surviving and thriving in this economy, and recently President Obama mentioned that the small business sector has created 65 percent of all new jobs in America over the past 15 years. However, the VerticalResponse survey does show that smaller businesses may take longer to recover from the current economic downturn, as only 11% of businesses with 1-10 employees are planning on new hires in the next three months.

Read the rest of the story here, and stay tuned for some other findings in the State of Small Business Survey. Interested in surveying your own customers? Check out how we did it.

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