I get this request often. And from what I can tell, so do other consultants and coaches who charge a fee for their knowledge and information.

My marketing consulting business is based on the expertise that I have developed for the last 10+ years. Well, built over the last 30+ years actually. (Now that I’ve dated myself!) I invest a lot of time and money in continuing education, reading, memberships, and conferences to stay on top of what’s important in my industry.

When someone that’s not my friend or family member asks, “Can I pick your brain?” it’s akin to this scenario:

Person goes to the doctor and says, “Hey, could you take a look at my throat and tell me what’s wrong? I don’t even have to come into an exam room, you could just do it here in the waiting room. Here, ahhhhhh” (as they open their mouth nice and big.)

Think doc would pull out his tongue depressor?

One of my favorite instances when this happened to me was when a financial advisor asked me if he could pick my brain over lunch. I wanted to say, “Sure, if you’re cool with putting a couple hundred dollars in an annuity for me and calling it good.”

I charge paying clients money for my strategies, which save them thousands of hours and countless dollars.

Does a lunch at the local deli equate to that value? Nope, sorry. Besides, if you want the answers to your problems that tends to take more than an hour of my time. What kind of an expert would I be if I could give you all the answers in one sandwich-sit-down?

When someone is a subject matter expert and a coach/consultant, they get paid to give their clients their knowledge.

Instead of asking to pick their brain, try one or more of these strategies instead:

Read their blog.

Look back through the archives of the consultant’s blog, Facebook profile, LinkedIn feed, etc. Ask them to share a recording of a previous free webinar or free call. Ask if they already have material on the subject you’re inquiring about.

Who knows, they might have answered your questions before and turned it into an article.

1. This is my favorite self-made acronym. Google That S***! If your questions can really be picked out of an expert’s brain “real quick,” then chances are Google has the answer.

Ask about fees and how they operate.

You might find they give you the answers you’re looking for in a thirty to sixty-minute initial consultation that they offer for free anyway.

A little more on this topic:

1. I’m not talking about close friends or family; chances are, when they ask for brain-picking, we help them, because they give back to us in many ways.

2. When people asked me this question 5 years ago (when I was new in my business) I would jump at the chance to answer them, thinking if I helped them with this, they would hire me. What I found a vast majority of the time was this – if they wanted it for free in the first place, they aren’t willing to pay for it.

3. If your business model isn’t a coaching/consulting model, this rant probably doesn’t speak to you as much; and that’s totally cool!

What do you think?

What are some alternatives to asking the Can I Pick Your Brain question?

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May 2014 Issue