When such financial giants as Lehman Brothers topple, AIG teeters on the edge, and the stock market plunges, it’s no surprise that business owners become fearful.  Now is clearly the time to take action to shore up your business’ position–and surveys can play a key role in helping you accomplish that.

Whether you’re marketing directly to consumers or engaged in B2B commerce, what you need above all during an economic downturn is information.

• Now more than ever, knowing what your clients WILL pay for is critical.
• Now more than ever, understanding how they view the quality of your products and services can make a dramatic impact on your bottom line.
• Now more than ever, having systematic evidence that your products work, that your services change lives or transform businesses, will play a vital role in converting prospects.
• Now more than ever, referrals will be an important source for those prospects.
• Now more than ever, testimonials and case studies will help convince those prospects to buy.
• Now more than ever, you need surveys to provide all of these critical forms of information.

This is no time to rely on impressions gained from you blog or comments made on Facebook to tell you what’s going on with your customers.  You need the systematic information that surveys provide.

And this is not time to do those surveys haphazardly.  You need a solid system in your business for garnering that information, for ensuring that it’s comprehensive, up-to-date, and accurate.

Simply put, this is one of the most cost-effective insurance policies you can buy, one of the best investments you can make to weather the economic storm.