We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Delphyne Taylor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Delphyne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
I absolutely believe in and take several vacations or “mini-trips” a year as a business owner. I will say, with technology, I am never too far away from my business if I am needed, however, I think self-care is very important and vacations are a part of my self-care. The older I get, the more vacations I take.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Yes I can. I am Delphyne Lomax Taylor and I’ve been in the market research industry for nearly forty years. At Rubbermaid, I was responsible for segmentation studies, market analysis; new product development, and coordination of market research projects. After moving to Atlanta, I became experienced on the supplier side and coordinated research for a variety of industries. For over thirty years, I have provided my expertise to clients of V & L Research and Consulting, Inc., a full-service market research firm with expertise in specialty markets. I am a skilled focus group moderator facilitating for companies such as, Glasko Smith Kline, Proctor & Gamble, various Financial Institutions, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), McDonald’s Corporation, Political polling and many others. I’ve moderated numerous focus groups with children, teens, young adults, adults and seniors across all ethnic and racial backgrounds. Specifically, I have conducted several groups related to African-American women of childbearing age, parenting, as well as facilitating group discussions with complex and sensitive topic areas. Some of my projects include: focus groups for The Center for Child Well-being on parenting; influence on breastfeeding among economically advantaged and disadvantaged African-American women; community assessment gathering both primary and secondary research on The Head Start program which included parent and children evaluations; Evaluation of Metro Atlanta YMCA “Fit for Life Program” involving parents and children; and focus groups among abused women who utilized the services of The Women’s Resource Center.
Through her years in the Market Research industry she brings a wealth of skills and experience:
Experienced in all phases of qualitative research including: development of moderator’s guides, moderation, analysis, report writing, and presentation. Facilitate and conduct studies nationwide for new product feasibility and development, product positioning and placement, market segmentation, and customer satisfaction.
Direct all types of quantitative research, including telephone and on-line studies.
I obtained my undergraduate degree from the University of Mount Union in Alliance, OH., were I majored in Business Administration and have three minors; Marketing, Finance, and Management. I also studied the Fundamentals of Market Research at the Burke Institute in Cincinnati, OH. During the COVID Pandemic I completed my book Woman2Woman that captures my journey through marriage, motherhood, entrepreneurship, divorce, surviving breast cancer, and finding new love with life lessons learned at the end of each chapter. It can be found on Amazon and my website Woman2Woman.network.
For nearly 32 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 75 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.
We’ve Been Helping Clients With “The Right Information for Smart Decisions” for Nearly 32 Years.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
A story from my journey that illustrates my resilience would be surviving Breast Cancer. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer during Breast Cancer awareness month which is in October. It was October 30, 2013 to be exact. After a mammogram, a second and third mammogram and biopsy later, it was determined that I had breast cancer in my right breast – Stage 0. I had never head of Stage 0 and I did get a second opinion. Glad I did because after an MRI of my right breast she recommended a skin sparing mastectomy. After that surgery and removing the majority of my lymph nodes under that right arm, I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Stage 2 Breast Cancer. I was given the strongest drug in chemotherapy, followed by 30 radiation treatments and several reconstruction surgeries. We are now in 2022 and although I do have some side affects of the drugs like neuropathy in both feet, I am still breathing and standing upright. After giving you this very brief synopsis, if that ain’t resilience, I don’t know what is. I have to give kudos to my wonderful business partner of nearly thirty-two years Dydra H. Virgil because she held down our business during this time. Don’t get me wrong, I was able to still work, but not at 100% and not able to moderate focus groups or do some of the other things required to run our business.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I have to say what helps (using it in a current term because we are still on our business journey) us build our reputation within our market is the quality of our work. These past thirty-one years have been amazing. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had good times and bad times, more good than bad, but we have and continue to provide our clients with excellent service. Do we get it right 100% of the time, no – however, we make it right. Over the past thirty-one years we get two things – a lot of repeat customers and a lot of referrals. We still advertise in our industry publications, however that isn’t free, what is free is our reputation in the market place. Again, we provide our clients, our customers with research to the highest satisfaction. Matter of fact, this is in our mission statement: V & L’s mission is to give our clients valuable insights, knowledge and the understanding necessary to best serve their customers. Our business philosophy is based on client service; our goal is customer satisfaction. Why do our clients select us, because we are the BEST CHOICE…..WHY you ask…Here is WHY:
V&L Research and Consulting, Inc. is the best choice; while extremely competent in conducting marketing research, the principles of V&L Research bring added value to the project because we know and understand the underserved, hard-to-reach and low-to-moderate income markets. The V&L executive staff offers expertise in researching these consumer markets and is knowledgeable about issues, opportunities and trends that only seasoned professionals possess. Through our extensive experience we understand how to effectively approach a variety of consumers and sub-segments of these critical populations. Executive members are also highly skilled in collaborating with clients to thoroughly understand their informational needs and the most appropriate methodologies to meet those needs within the required timeframe.
V&L Research has been named a Top 50 Market Research Firm Certified Through the Greenbook Healthcare Certification Program, The Greenbook, New York American Marketing Association.
V&L is an award-winning, full service marketing research firm offering primary research (focus groups and surveys), secondary research and many other cutting-edge research methodologies. We specialize in analyzing consumer markets for a diverse set of industries. V&L Research has nearly 32 years of experience conducting research among the general market and specialty markets including African-American and Hispanic consumers.
V&L has conducted hundreds of market research studies to gather insights, generate ideas and assess respondents’ perceptions through focus groups, community meetings, surveys and/or secondary research. Many of these studies have been among niche markets and conducted for clients like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health, ICF, Westat, American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, Grady Health Systems and Morehouse School of Medicine. The majority of these studies provided insights on the underserved and/or low-to-moderate community.
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Dydra H. Virgil