June 26, 2010 18 Comments

Profit from “Pick Your Brain” Requests

pick my brain People love to offer me lunch to “pick my brain.” You get that request often, too, I bet. Oh, how they want to pick.

I have a way you can handle those requests if you’re running out of time for lunch.

You know that I helped start Third Tribe Marketing, right? It’s a place where we gather to talk in detail about online marketing, everything from email marketing to sales landing pages to autoresponders, to all the other various ways we get things done. It’s all behind-the-scenes stuff that we don’t share on our blogs, and it’s all targeted towards the questions people ask in the forums or via our other contact channels.

I run a digital marketing company called New Marketing Labs. We’re not cheap, but hiring my company is a lot less expensive than paying for a day of my time. But for smaller jobs or simpler questions, neither my company nor my own personal time is in most people’s price point.

So, instead, I encourage people to join Third Tribe Marketing. Because for $97, you not only get to ask me a question (or as many questions as you can ask within 30 days), but you can ask 2500 or so people that question and get several pieces of advice for that one very low amount.

Now, how could you profit from this?

Join the Third Tribe Marketing Affiliate Program

Just sign up to the Third Tribe Marketing program, get your own special referral code, and invite those brain pickers to sign up for 30 days worth of brain picking for only $97.

What do you get? 33% of the money for every month that person stays signed up to Third Tribe.

Oh, and you get your lunch hour back.

People want to pick your brain? Give them 2500 or more brains to pick. Sign up to refer people to Third Tribe Marketing today.

Photo credit hatchibombotar

Related posts:

  1. Brain Death by Dull Cubicle
  2. Brain Dump after Spring 2007 Video on the Net
  3. My Offer on Third Tribe
  4. How I Use Third Tribe Marketing
  5. Third Tribe is Live

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  • thomsinger

    When I get people who want to “pick my brain”, and I offer them time on my schedule at 7 AM at the Starbucks near my house. I live out of the way in my city (not central), and people are often not interested in driving to the suburbs at such and early hour for a meeting. Later in the day I am on the clock on billable activities for clients or my own marketing. The early morning is wide open. (also, during the school year I will even do 8AM so I can drive my kids to school first).

    That's fine with me if people choose not to take the early hour meeting. If it is not a mutually beneficial and established relationship, then it is hard for me to drive into town. It eliminates most random people but makes it their choice not to meet with me.

    I am a morning person and like my coffee at Starbucks. And I never want to be someone who is totally unavailable to those who seek my counsel.

    I learned this from a successful CEO (his time was 6 AM) who said that only about 10 people a year took him up on his open hours, but he got 2 or more requests for brain picking a week or to meet with a sales person he had never heard of before. Thus he was always accessible, but never over-burdened. I liked his idea (I met with him at 6 AM as a sales person and signed him up as a client).

    The funny thing is the cousin of my neighbors friend's sister who was mad at me that I would not drive 20 minutes in the middle of the day to meet her half-way so she could get free consulting about her book project. Hmmmmm.

    Anyway, that is my thing. It wont work for people who like to sleep in, but I am up anyway.

    thom

  • http://www.indiebusinessblog.com Donna Maria Coles Johnson

    Thanks for sharing this great reminder of efficiency and effectiveness. Not to mention FUN! I love heading over the Third Tribe to connect, though I don't get to do it as often as I'd sometimes like. It's a great and fun resource! When people email me questions, my favorite things to do are to ask them to go to my social site where there are over 6,000 people connecting. They almost always do that, which gives me a chance to be helpful not only to them but to thousands of others at once. Plus someone other than me always answers and satisfies them first, so it's a tThanks for sharing this great reminder of efficiency and effectiveness. Not to mention FUN! I love heading over the Third Tribe to connect, though I don't get to do it as often as I'd sometimes like. It's a great and fun resource! When people email me questions, my favorite things to do are to ask them to go to my social site where there are over 6,000 people connecting. They almost always do that, which gives me a chance to be helpful not only to them but to thousands of others at once. Plus someone other than me always answers and satisfies them first, so it's a total win/win. The other thing I do is ask people to post their question on my FaceBook page. There are nearly 2,000 engaged people there, and the questions people ask give me a chance, again, to be helpful to lots of people at once. It's also a great way to showcase my expertise in ways that are natural and fun for me, plus it generates tons of helpful, fun and enlightening discussions.

    As a professional with limited hours in the day, I can't answer everyone's questions, but I lead a tribe with thousands of people, many of whom have time when I don't. If someone wants to help, but doesn't know the answer, they can often refer the questioner to someone who can help them. Then I learn something new too. It's a very exciting thing. I know not everyone manages a social network of their own or hosts a learning site like you, but if you have a FaceBook Page, it's the perfect place to direct people. I have tracked much new business and collaborative opportunities from mine. Thanks again for sharing, Chris, and for giving me a chance to share ideas too.otal win/win. The other thing I do is ask people to post their question on my FaceBook page. There are nearly 2,000 engaged people there, and the questions people ask give me a chance, again, to be helpful to lots of people at once. It's also a great way to showcase my expertise in ways that are natural and fun for me, plus it generates tons of helpful, fun and enlightening discussions. As a professional with limited hours in the day, I can't answer everyone's questions, but I lead a tribe with thousands of people, many of whom have time when I don't. If someone wants to help, but doesn't know the answer, they can often refer the questioner to someone who can help them. Then I learn something new too. It's a very exciting thing.

    I know not everyone manages a social network of their own or hosts a “tribe” site like you, but if you have a FaceBook Page, it's the perfect place to direct people. I have tracked much new business and collaborative opportunities from mine. Thanks again for sharing, Chris, and for giving me a chance to share ideas too.

  • http://www.indiebusinessblog.com Donna Maria Coles Johnson

    Wow! This is a great idea. I would love to try this since I spend so much time at a local coffee shop. But I get questions from very few people in my area. (Maybe it's time for a conference?) I love this idea though, thanks for sharing it.

  • thomsinger

    Hi Donna. Beware if you try it, as some will be offended. However, for me it is ideal as I want to have myself available for “brain picking” to those who think my advise would be helpful. The reason I want to be attainable is that there have been hundreds of people who helped me along the way. They let me ask questions and learn at their feet. To shut off those who come behind me would not be the way to pay back all who mentored me along my early journey. I owe it to everyone who drank coffee (or lunched) with me whose brains I picked. Plus, there is still power in face to face, so just going digital might not be giving my all. This seems to me like a great answer, and it is fun to see those who get mad. One woman told me she was not an early riser so this option was not “fair”. HUH? Oh well.

    I do welcome other points of view on this….. who thinks this idea is rotten and why? (I don't offend easily…as long as you don't name call…. so feel free to share you point of view)

  • http://twitter.com/trishgillis Trish Gillis

    Thom! This is a fantastic suggestion. Never say “no” – you are offering a solution that works.I'm a Thurd Tribe member, too – so now you have this option for the person that wants to negotiate the 7A meeting. Glad I saw this -

  • thomsinger

    Thanks. I like your words “never say no – offer a solution”…. that works for so many things beyond just this “brain picking topic” !

  • http://www.growcomms.com/ Russell Palmer

    Jeffery Gitomer (@gitomer) tells the story of his receiving these requests all the time too. His response is that if the person hirs him for the day at his normal rate, he'll give them all the help that he can and if they are successful as a result, he'll buy then lunch instead.

    Referring to Chris and Justin's book “Trust Agents,” you only get to make those sorts of suggestions, as well as the ones in the comments here, if you are already established as a trust agent. If you are still working on that, a brain picking session might be a good way to show value and “be one of us.”

    I suppose that the best way to handle it is to assess what the impact of your response will have on the person requesting your help or to the community that they belong to and then to provide a suitable response. Havng one or two options to present straight off the cuff will help you out of those tight spots as you step off a stage after a speaking slot or trapped at the bar at a cocktail party etc.

  • http://www.indiebusinessblog.com Donna Maria Coles Johnson

    Thom: I too believe in not pulling the ladder up after me. And from time to time, people do let me know they are not happy that I am not able to answer their question individually. I think that's just part of setting boundaries. If I am not able to help, I try to point in the direction of people and places where help is available. Now that I think of it, 9 out of the 10 questions I get are answered in 5 years of my free blog posts and podcasts, so I refer people to those links, in addition to the social site and FaceBook.

    And again, I LOVE your idea of meeting up with people at a coffee shop! I live in a small town now, but I used to live in my hometown of Washington, DC. If I were still there, I would definitely consider following in your footsteps. More people would come, making it more worthwhile for everyone. Thanks for a great conversation, Thom!

  • Ivan Walsh

    Hi Thom,

    One way to weed out the tire-kickers is to ask them to send over a 1 pager (with bullet points) identifying what they want to discuss. Most will stop then and there. They probably just want to chat and/or kill time.

    But those that do put together a sensible document may be worth meeting up with.

    You can tell a lot by how folks start a project.

    Ivan

  • http://www.perfectoled.com electronic display

    me too .so I refer people to those links, in addition to the social site and FaceBook.

  • Pingback: Go Ahead: Pick My Brain

  • http://www.TheFranchiseKingBlog.com The Franchise King

    Been there. Joined. Am an affiliate. Got great advice for a product launch/landing page. YES!

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