Navigating Rapidly-Evolving Changes in the Marketplace with Patrick Comer | Ep. 92

On today’s episode, Sima chats with Patrick Comer, CEO of Lucid, LLC, to discuss how COVID-19 has forced everybody to stay at home and how consumer behaviors are changing in the face of this pandemic, as a result. Listen in to hear more about this swiftly-changing scenario! Lucid, LLC, unites buyers and sellers of survey samples in over 90 countries – bridging the divide between global questions and human answers. Every day, millions of questions are answered via Lucid’s programmatic marketplace – enabling anyone, in any industry, to get real answers. Lucid’s clients can ask questions of targeted audiences and measure the effectiveness of their digital advertising. This authentic, first-party data drives powerful insights, in real-time.  Lucid is headquartered in New Orleans with offices in London, New York, Gurgaon, and Sydney. A Surprising Duality The month of March has been a rollercoaster ride for Lucid. Amidst the economic storm clouds that are brewing right now, there’s a lot of volume and strength on platforms and the number of interviews and the number of transactions have gone up. This duality has been a challenge to navigate, so Lucid has been taking a closer look behind the scenes. Not surprisingly, the surveys involving COVID-19 have increased. What they also found was that people were pushing to complete projects quickly, as companies started to invoice in order to get account payables secured while waiting for their next project. Looking Forward Will Require a Look Backward There are radical changes in behavior, purchasing, and opinion with everybody being at home right now, but analyzing this will require sorting out over time. Lucid has seen that some companies are slowing, pausing, or canceling work; and in other areas, they are speeding up, accelerating, and moving work. More companies are doing fast general population surveys without much targeting to get a couple of quick hits and then moving on, versus longer, tailored, targeted-audience surveys, just to get a handle on how things are moving around so quickly. Tough Decisions The COVID-19 pandemic has produced at least two crises: a healthcare crisis and a financial crisis, and with this in mind, Lucid has had to make some difficult decisions. Patrick addresses staffing changes and Lucid’s philosophy in assisting its terminated employees in finding other work in the market research space, as well as discussing how Lucid has been taking action regarding the impact of its remaining employees’ health and safety globally. He quotes Michael Leavitt, Former Secretary of Health and Human Services: “Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate.” In the face of the coming financial crisis, Patrick feels confident that his company has moved quickly and strategically to create capability, stability, and confidence in Lucid’s liquidity from a transaction-buying viewpoint. A New Normal and Its Challenges Sima and Patrick reflect on life and business post-COVID, and how the decisions we make now impact our future. There is no going back to “normal”, and many companies will suffer.  Conversely, an economic downturn is an incredible time to start a company and to implement procedures that will help it endure through the toughest of times. Patrick speaks to the various challenges that leaders face and how they should be part of the solution that needs to happen now versus using this time for company gain. _______________________________ Sima loves to hear from her listeners with input, questions, suggestions and just to connect! You can find her at the links below! Email: [email protected] LinkedIn Twitter infinity-2.com Sima is passionate about data and loves to share, learn and help others that share that passion. If you love data as much as her, subscribe on iTunes and don’t forget to leave a rating and review! Connect with Patrick: Patrick’s Linkedin Lucid, LLC Linkedin Lucid, LLC Website Lucid, LLC Twitter Lucid, LLC Facebook