I wanted to take a minute this week to talk about one of the more controversial openings for a networking conversation: “Mind if I pick your brain?”
Some time ago, I observed a conversation on Facebook. Someone posed the question about whether it was okay to ask if you could pick someone’s brain. Everyone who had a full-time job who responded said yes and that they were flattered if they were asked this question. Not many entrepreneurs responded, but those who did had reservations.
The sample size wasn’t huge, but I thought the result was interesting. It seems to me that this expression means something completely different to entrepreneurs, and today I wanted to give voice to what may be on an entrepreneur’s mind when this question is asked.
Perhaps if you are a full-time employee, you may see the value of networking as greater than the value of the knowledge you are sharing. The act of giving away the information you have worked to build may be worth it for the possibility to extend your circle with the right people. It would be easy to assume that the same is true for entrepreneurs.
However, there is another implication for an entrepreneur. When you make your living from consulting, from your expertise, from the skill set and knowledge base you have built over time, and you depend on creating a base of paid clients to make that living, it can be awkward or even insulting for someone to assume that they can pay $0 – or the price of a cup of coffee – instead of your hourly rate (or whatever your fee structure is). Implying to an entrepreneur that you value their expertise at $0 could start your conversation on a bad foot.
Implying to an entrepreneur that you value their expertise at $0 could start your conversation on a bad foot. #networking #smallbusiness #entrepreneur #smallbiz Share on XOne of the major debates entrepreneurs have is how to value their services. Whether you are setting a price for the first time or thinking about raising it or changing the structure of how you are paid, many of us are constantly evaluating our price points. Not only do we deal with different schools of thought among entrepreneurs about how to value our services, but some of us deal with an internal struggle about how to establish our worth.
So, when someone comes up to an entrepreneur and asks to sample their services/products, intellectual property, or consulting wisdom for free, it sends the confusing message that they at the same time value the entrepreneur’s expertise and also don’t value it at all. “Mind if I pick your brain?” can come across many ways. The request may come across humbly. It may come across with anger and entitlement. I, for one, have heard it all.
Entrepreneurs, here is what I want to tell you: Their request is their request. Your response is your response, and you are under no obligation to accommodate a request you don’t want to accommodate.
You are under no obligation to accommodate a request you don't want to accommodate. #networking #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #smallbiz Share on XAs an entrepreneur, you should be prepared for people to ask you for samples of what you do for free. It is going to happen. But what will you say in response?
Your response may be different for a friend than for someone who has the gumption to write a cold email to your email address without knowing you at all. I know that I have had both scenarios, many times. It is up to you to have your personal criteria in place for what requests will make it through and which ones won’t. The onus will be on you to respond, but it will be easier if you have a planned approach for how you want to respond.
If you are looking for guidance on how to make that decision, it may help you to read this Marketing Tip of the Week about how to determine if “exposure” is good compensation. Exposure is a word that gets thrown around freely, and it is for you to assess what value it actually has.
One of the things that may help you as an entrepreneur is to prepare something public on your website that is free. For example, if someone wants free advice from me, I can point them to my Marketing Tips of the Week archives and let them know that there are hundreds of blogs there to surf. You may have another tool that is publicly available – such as a lead magnet, tip sheet, blogs, assessment tool, or something else that has value for them but requires no time from you. When you have content like that in place, it becomes much easier to let them know that you have something that they can access for free and that they are welcome to come back to you if they want to hire you and work one-to-one.
At the end of the day, your comfort zone may be different than my own, and I don’t want to make an assumption about your business. When someone asks, “Mind if I pick your brain?” you get to decide what your limits are, if any.
Just know that this question means different things to different people. It is up to you to set your boundaries where you want them to be!
Is this something you have dealt with for your business? I’m interested to know your thoughts in the comments.
If you are interested to get more ideas on how to plant a free resource that may have value to you in your pipeline and value to your audience simultaneously, check out this blog on lead magnets!