r/expertnetworks

I’m an experienced senior technology leader based in the US with 30+ years of experience, almost entirely with Fortune 100 technology companies, focused on industrial automation, AI/ML, enterprise software, cybersecurity, and digital transformation.

I currently do expert-network consulting/advisory work and typically charge $250/hour. I do get calls and engagements at that rate, but the volume isn’t as high as I’d like.

For those with experience in expert networks or independent consulting:

Is $250/hour reasonable for this level of experience, or would lowering the rate materially increase the number of engagements? And if so, what is the optimal rate?

I’m not looking to maximize the hourly rate at the expense of volume, but I also don't want to discount 30 years of senior-level experience unnecessarily.

Would appreciate perspectives from other experienced folks doing expert-network advisory work.

Hi all, what is a reasonable fee to ask for when a client doesn’t show up to the call? I normally charge $600 p/h

Guys, my personal experience says avoid spending time on surveys of Maven.

More than a month's time, despite raising matter 5 times, the payments are still on hold

Engaging with such expert networks in only waste of valuable time

Sharing above information for informed decision of all.

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PM in Big Tech, in AI. I get calls from multiple ENs across the spectrum of AI - models, hardware, service providers, etc.

1/ How much should I be charging? I've gone from $150/hr to $600/hr over the past few months. I feel like given my expertise and the repeat calls on similar topics, I'm probably a handful of folks doing this and am probably charging at the low end. Is $1000 too high and would effectively price me out of engagements?

2/ While I have been taking calls in my primary area, I feel that a lot of the calls are with investment firms etc. who're looking for high level information. I could provide my views on adjacent areas as well at that altitude. Thus I'm thinking I should express interest in other topics as well instead of simply responding with "not a fit". How do folks here affinitize themselves to topics - narrow or broad?

I have a final round this week, was curious if anyone has any experience with the final round and if there is any advice that could be offered + what to expect! Thanks!

We've been using a couple of the big expert networks for a while, booking calls and buying credit packs. Over the past few months, an increasing percentage of the calls are with people reading AI generated answers or just aren't who they say they are. With some of them you can tell within 5 mins. Answers are vague or contradictory, nothing specific about the company they supposedly worked at or doesn't sound credible at all, long pauses, etc. I'm pretty sure at least a handful were outright frauds. We got refunds but still was a waste of our time and made me look incompetent for having booked them.

I've been trying to figure out why this keeps happening and I keep coming back to the money.

Once you work out the credit cost, we're paying $1k+ per call. I'm guessing the expert sees at best $500 of that. Now I think about who we actually want on the phone. If I'm trying to understand a purchasing decision, I need the exec who signs off on it who is on a $400k+ salary so $500 for an hour doesn't move the needle for them at all. It's definitely not worth risking their job over to do it without compliance approval and their job will probably not give them compliance approval if they formally asked for it.

Then there's the hassle. They have a real job. They don't have time for associates blowing up their phone, or for filling out screening questions for 10 different clients when most of those clients never book. They cant be doing the call during work hours since they actually have a busy job to do probably filled with unpredictable schedules.

So who actually bothers? People with a lot of free time who are really good at getting through screeners. These days that means pasting the questions into ChatGPT, or paying a VA in the Philippines to handle all the back and forth. They pass the screen because that's pretty much their whole job. Whether they know anything is another story.

The pay is too low and the process is too annoying the actual people we are paying the expert network to recruit so the 1st year fresh out of college history major sends us the people gaming it. Adverse selection, I guess.

Surveys are even worse. The responses look like AI answered them too and a much higher percentage seem fraudulent since no need to fake a voice accent for a call or have the ability to converse live in English on a particular topic the person probably has no idea about. We stopped wasting our time with surveys at the start of this year.

Curious if others are seeing the same thing and whether anyone has found a way around it. Do you vet experts yourself before booking? Push for specific people? Go with smaller networks? Or have you just given up on the big ones?

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I’m a specialist physician based outside of the U.S. and have been on Guidepoint for about 9 months. I have 1.5 years of experience post-residency and 6 years of overall experience.

My current rate is $300/hour.

I’ve been getting around 4–6 consultation/screening requests per month.

However, I haven’t been selected for any of them so far. Since most requests seem to come from the U.S., I’m wondering whether being based outside the U.S. may be one reason I haven’t been selected.

I’m considering lowering my rate to $200/hour to see if that improves my chances of getting selected.

For those with experience with Guidepoint or other expert networks:

Is $300/hour reasonable for a specialist physician?

Would dropping to $200 make a meaningful difference?

Would you suggest something in between, like $250/hour?

Could the lack of selection be more about profile/project fit, location, or availability than the rate?

Would appreciate hearing from people who have actually worked with expert networks.

Today I received this email from Alphasights expert relations after enquiring why I have not been getting new proejct request after being very active for the past 2 years. What could this possibly mean?

Thank you for reaching out and for your engagement with AlphaSights on past projects. 

While we are always working to match the right experts to client needs, demand for any individual profile can fluctuate and is never guaranteed. As outlined in our Professionals Code of Conduct, which you agreed to before any interaction in the past, AlphaSights retains sole discretion over expert engagement and project matching at all times.

For full details on how this works, we would encourage you to revisit the Code of Conduct on our website, which covers the nature of this relationship in more depth. This should address any outstanding questions you may have.

I worked in the industry for almost four years and wanted to share a couple of things for associates starting out, or anyone already in the job.

1. Appreciate the network you can build

If you've just left uni without much of a professional network, I think expert networks are one of the fastest ways to build one. You get to speak with experts across so many industries, as well as people in VC, PE and consulting.

Take an interest in what people do and ask for advice when there's something you want to learn. I know people who moved into private equity through relationships they built in this industry. You never know where a conversation might lead, including career paths you hadn't considered.

I was lucky enough to build a strong network during my time there, and it's something I really value.

2. Keep experts informed and make calls easy to prepare for

If a project doesn't work out, tell them as soon as you can. Maybe the client didn't select them or changed the angle. If you messed up, own it. Don't give them some BS to cover yourself. They've given you their time, so keep them in the loop.

When scheduling a call, include a short project overview and the client's questions in the calendar invite. I forgot this plenty of times and would get an email asking, "Can you remind me what this is about?

These people have busy jobs and lives. Having the context in the invite saves them from chasing you for it.

Just sharing a few things I learned along the way. Hope they're useful to someone 🙏🏾

"You may not use any third-party sources, including artificial intelligence tools, in responding to these screening questions or while participating in any consultation with a client. <The EN> reserves the right to deny payment for any consultation, and may remove you from its network, if it determines that you have misrepresented your identity, experience or knowledge or used third-party sources in connection with the consultation."

I completely understand the need for accurate and timely information in the screeners, and that they are an important legal attestation. I also understand that it's Client's counsel requiring this, and even if 99% of them go along, that 1% could still stipulate the manual entry for everybody. However, this seems like it's heading for a reckoning at some point as Agentic AI creeps into nearly every aspect of the workday from content updates to brokering of availability.

I'm not advocating for anything that would jeopardize the accuracy or timeliness of screener responses. I'm just asking is the issue with AI or with the accuracy and legitimacy of the answer?

Lets say there was developed a form of "bulletproof, verified" automation that could provide accurate answers 100% of the time for compliance, skills and availability. Could this someday be acceptable?

This post asked the same question from the EN perspective more than a year ago, and it was well received by the community, but we haven't seen much progress here. The same restrictions are still widely enforced.

Newer ENs even seem to be going backwards, relying on archaic MS and Google forms that ask the same exact questions in every instance, including basic contact info like Email and phone, which they already know. You're not even allowed to use identify-filler tools like Roboform (invented in what, 2002?) on those.