Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Delphyne Taylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Delphyne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Has Covid resulted in any major changes to your business model?

V & L Research and Consulting, Inc. is a full-service Marketing Research Company. We conduct both qualitative research (Focus Groups, In-Depth interviews, etc.) as well as quantitative research (telephone and on-line surveys). Although our business model has not changed, the way we conduct qualitative research has. Prior to COVID we held focus groups and individual interview discussions at a Research Facility with the two-way mirror. Moderator on one side of the glass and viewers/clients on the other. Although we are starting to go back to research facilities, 95% of our groups / interviews are done virtually, primarily using Zoom as the platform.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Founded in 1991 by myself, Delphyne Lomax Taylor, and my business partner Dydra H. Virgil, V & L Research and Consulting is a Top 50 Market Research Firm Certified by the GreenBook Certification Program of the New York American Marketing Association. The firm is a privately held Georgia based S-Corporation and has several certifications (minority certified through the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council (GMSDC); women-owed certified through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC); LSBE; and SBE).

I have been in the research industry for nearly forty years, starting my career at Rubbermaid, Inc. in Wooster, Ohio. After moving to Atlanta and working in research for a few small firms and then a hospital where I met Dydra Virgil, after three years we decided to form V & L Research and Consulting, Inc.

For over 30 years, V & L has provided hundreds of clients with insights and information to develop, improve or monitor their products and services through focus groups and surveys, secondary research and many other cutting edge research methodologies (i.e. Ideation sessions; QualBoards Bulletin Board Technology; Consumer Connect; and Brain-Storming and Scenario Building). We’ve helped our clients develop new products, market their existing product lines, increase their sales and/or improve their customer satisfaction. We specialize in analyzing consumer markets for a diverse set of industries and the principals have more than 50 years combined experience conducting research in general market and specialty markets throughout the nation.

V&L has conducted hundreds of market research studies to gather insights, generate ideas and assess consumers’ perceptions through focus groups, community meetings, surveys and/or secondary research. Many of these studies have been conducted for government clients to provide insights for branding and/or marketing communications including development of brands, taglines, and brand implementation strategies.

I am most proud of the fact that Dydra and I, although a small business, we provide products and services like we are a large business. When you contract with us, you will get one of the owners to be your primarily point of contact. Also, we are proud to say that we are going into our 31st year of business and that has to tell you something about our brand and the quality of what we offer.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met my business partner several years ago (30+ years ago) at another market research firm. It’s a long story, but to shorten it, we both left there and I went to another research firm, while she ended up in a Major hospital system in the strategic planning department. One day I got a call from her asking me to join her as her research analyst. I quickly thought it was time to leave the smaller firm and settle into retirement working for a large hospital system. Little did I know God had bigger plans for us. My now business partner left to have a baby and when she came back to that large hospital system, things just were not the same, she had reached that glass ceiling. One day she asked me if I would consider starting a business together. Well, that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was perfectly content with working my 9am-5pm and getting paid every two weeks. Weeks went on and I thought about it further, we both went home and discussed it with our husband’s, they were 100% in and said, “Why not!” Let me back up, there was a lady in another department who left to start her business and she would often ask us to do some free-lance work. So we would work our 9am – 5pm during the week and do side gigs and projects in the evening and over the weekends. Well, one day it got back to our big boss and she was not happy. They asked us to either quit or be fired. Now, there must have been a double standard because our work performance was unquestionably great and there where others who also had side gigs. Why were we singled out? I don’t want to use the race card but……anyway, we looked at each other, packed our desks up and left. Mind you we had already secured office space at another location. So when we left we headed to our office and have not looked back.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The initial capital came from savings my business partner and I both had. We pulled our monies together and got our first office on Memorial Drive. Also, early on, we were able to secure a rather large contract with a church who was getting ready to build a school which was a tremendous help. However, we put all of our energy in that contract and then realized once it was done, what was next? So, let me stop right here. You have to always, continually be in the sales mode. You have to work the projects you have in-house, but you also have to continually be marketing your services/your brand. Advertise in industry publications, etc. So that was a hard lesson for us. Anyway, we made it through because referrals kept coming in. We worked on a business plan and when we didn’t need money, we secured what was called, a Low-Doc SBA loan from our bank. It’s good to ask for money when you don’t need it. It’s easier to secure. Since then we have had loans on receivables and since the pandemic, we were able to secure additional funds that were offered during COVID.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vlresearch.com
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/vlresearch
• Other: woman2woman.network – where you can purchase my book that talks about my journey

Image Credits
Lisa Sales Dydra H. Virgil