How to Run Expert Calls Like a Consultant (Without the Consultant Bill)

Consultants charge premium fees for a reason: they've mastered the art of extracting valuable insights from expert conversations. But what if you could run these calls with the same rigor and effectiveness without the hefty invoice? This guide will show you how to conduct expert interviews that deliver actionable insights while building your own research network.

Why Expert Calls Matter More Than Ever

In today's fast-moving business landscape, primary research through expert calls has become essential for:

• Validating product-market fit before expensive launches
• Understanding competitive positioning
• Testing pricing strategies with actual buyers
• Discovering unmet needs in target markets
• Making confident strategic decisions with real-world input

According to a Bain & Company report, companies that regularly conduct customer and expert research are 2.3 times more likely to outperform their competitors in revenue growth. The value is clear, but traditional access to this expertise often comes with prohibitive costs.

The Old Way: Renting Access at Premium Prices

Traditionally, companies rely on two approaches for expert calls:

1. Expert networks like GLG or AlphaSights that broker access to experts, typically charging $1,000+ per hour-long call.

2. Consultancies that conduct interviews as part of larger engagements, effectively charging $3,000-5,000 per interview when factored into project costs.

Both models involve renting access to knowledge rather than building your own capability and network.

The New Way: Own Your Research Network

Rather than continuously paying middlemen for access, forward-thinking companies are building their own research networks. Here's how to do it effectively:

1. Define Your Research Objectives

Before scheduling your first call, clearly articulate:

• What decisions will this research inform?
• What hypotheses are you testing?
• What specific knowledge gaps need filling?

This clarity helps you identify the right experts and ask the right questions, something consultants excel at before engaging.

2. Identify and Reach the Right Experts

Unlike consultants who rely on expensive networks, you can source experts directly:

• LinkedIn outreach: Use Sales Navigator to find precise matches based on role, industry, and experience. Send personalized connection requests mentioning your research.

• Pooled outreach: Tools like 28Experts let you pool multiple LinkedIn accounts for greater reach while keeping the connections you make.

• Second-degree connections: Ask team members to make introductions to relevant contacts.

• Industry communities: Engage in relevant Slack groups, Discord servers, and professional forums where potential experts gather.

Pro tip: Consultants know that getting the exact right profile is more important than getting more interviews. Five calls with the perfect experts outperform fifteen with the wrong ones.

3. Structure Your Interview Guide Like a Pro

Consultants use carefully crafted discussion guides. Create yours with these sections:

• Warm-up (2-3 minutes): Brief introduction and context-building questions

• Background (3-5 minutes): Understanding the expert's relevant experience

• Core topics (35-40 minutes): Open-ended questions organized by theme

• Synthesis (5 minutes): Testing conclusions and hypotheses

• Closing (2 minutes): Next steps and network expansion

For each section, include:

• Primary questions (asked in every interview)
• Follow-up prompts (used selectively)
• Time allocations to maintain pace

4. Master the Art of Expert Interviewing

Consultants excel at extracting insights through specific techniques:

• Start broad, then narrow: Begin with "Tell me about…" questions before diving into specifics

• Use the five whys: When you hear something interesting, ask "why?" up to five times to get to root causes

• Employ strategic silence: After an answer, wait 3-5 seconds before responding—experts often elaborate with valuable details during this pause

• Redirect with purpose: When conversations go off-track, acknowledge the input then say, "That's helpful. Now I'd like to understand…"

• Challenge respectfully: When you hear something contradicting other findings, say "That's interesting because others mentioned… Could you help me understand the difference?"

5. Extract Maximum Value Through Proper Documentation

Consultants never waste interview data. Neither should you:

• Record calls (with permission) to focus on the conversation, not note-taking

• Create standardized templates for post-call summaries

• Identify verbatim quotes that powerfully illustrate key points

• Tag insights by research theme for easy retrieval

• Use AI transcription and analysis tools to extract patterns across multiple interviews

6. Scale Your Approach With Technology

Consultants have teams and systems. You need technology:

• Scheduling tools like Calendly or Cal.com with Zoom integration streamline booking

• CRM systems help track your growing expert network

• AI synthesis tools can analyze transcripts across multiple interviews to identify patterns and generate insights in hours rather than days

• Outreach platforms like 28Experts that combine LinkedIn accounts into a single recruiting engine can help you reach more potential experts while keeping the connections you make

7. Build Long-Term Value by Maintaining Your Network

Unlike one-off consultant projects, your expert network becomes a sustainable asset:

• Follow up with experts quarterly with relevant updates

• Create an expert community where appropriate, connecting experts with each other

• Build a knowledge base of insights that grows with each conversation

• Track which experts provide the most value for future prioritization

The ROI of Owning Your Expert Network

When you build your own expert interview capability, the economics change dramatically:

• Cost per interview drops from $1,000+ to $150-300 (including incentives and tools)

• Speed increases as you don't wait for broker processes

• Institutional knowledge accumulates rather than residing with external consultants

• Your LinkedIn network becomes a valuable asset filled with industry experts

According to research by Forrester, companies that develop in-house market research capabilities achieve 15-30% cost savings while increasing the speed of insights delivery by 40%.

Conclusion: The Expert Call Advantage

You don't need to pay consultant prices to gain consultant-quality insights. By systematically approaching expert interviews and building your own research network, you can make better decisions faster and at a fraction of the cost.

The real power comes not just from the individual calls but from the network and capability you build over time. Unlike hiring consultants, where the expertise walks out the door when the project ends, your research network becomes a lasting competitive advantage.

Start small with five strategic interviews, perfect your approach, then scale. Before long, you'll have built an insights engine that delivers continuous value without the continuous consultant bills.