Expert network calls: what happens on one, for experts

Expert network calls are usually one-hour phone or video conversations in which a client, often an investor or a consultant, asks you about your firsthand industry experience, after the network has screened you and you have agreed to its compliance rules. Expert calls look informal from the outside, but most of what decides how one goes happens before anyone dials in, so this post follows a call from the screening questions to the request to come back.

1. Answer the screening questions like a reference check

The first thing you see is not a call. It is a short questionnaire. Third Bridge describes the order plainly in its explainer for experts: you answer a short set of questions about your experience, and if the client sees a fit you get a project invitation, accept it and schedule the call. GLG says on its compliance page that clients may set their own screening questions, and experts must review and respond to them before taking part in a consultation.

Answer each one with what you did, where and when. The client reads these answers to decide whether to spend an hour with you, so specifics win.

Here is a made-up example. Odette ran procurement for a regional grocery chain until last spring, and a screener asks whether she has chosen a cold-chain logistics vendor. A weak answer says "Yes, extensive experience with logistics vendors." A useful one says "Yes. In 2023 I ran the selection for refrigerated trucking across 40 stores, compared four vendors and moved the contract." The second answer gets her the call. It also sets up the first five minutes of it.

Say no when the honest answer is no. A stretched screener answer turns into a long, awkward hour, and the client notices by minute ten.

2. Expect the compliance rules to come before the call, every time

Every large network makes you agree to its rules before you speak to a client. The details differ, but they share one core rule: you share your experience and judgment, never confidential information.

GLG says experts must sign, and annually re-sign, its terms; agree not to give clients confidential information, including material non-public information; and end any project that moves into subjects they cannot discuss. Experts also complete an interactive tutorial each year, and employed experts may not take projects about their employer (GLG compliance).
Tegus by AlphaSense lists the same kind of gate for its experts: agreeing to its terms, completing mandatory compliance training and answering a standard pre-call questionnaire. Experts cannot take calls about their current employer (AlphaSense FAQ).
Guidepoint says on its page for experts that its compliance team reviews each engagement against your employer's rules or your fiduciary duties.

Former employers are the grey zone. Networks do not all publish their rules for calls about a company you used to work for, so ask the network before you accept a call about a company you left recently.

Check your own employment contract too. Many have clauses about outside work and confidentiality that apply whatever the network's rules say. If the wording is unclear, ask an employment lawyer before your first call.

3. The call is usually an hour, and the client leads

Third Bridge describes its standard format as a one-hour phone call, closer to a professional conversation than a formal interview, with questions that can be very specific or open-ended (Third Bridge). Tegus calls can be booked in 30, 45 or 60 minute blocks (AlphaSense), and on some of them an AI interviewer asks the questions instead of a person.

Here is how an hour might run. The client introduces the project in a sentence or two, often without naming the company they are researching. They confirm your background. Then they work through their list: how buying decisions get made, who the main competitors are, what changed in the last two years, what you would watch next. The last ten minutes can be the best ones, when they ask the question they were saving.

Assume a transcript exists. GLG says clients can choose to have every call produce an AI transcript and summary, and that compliance teams can hold a transcript for review before it is released (GLG expert calls). Speak as if your words will be read later, because they may be.

4. Prepare for twenty minutes

Third Bridge tells experts there is no need to over-prepare with extensive research, and to speak from firsthand knowledge. That matches what clients pay for. They can read reports themselves; they want the person who did the job.

Spend your twenty minutes on four things:

Re-read your screener answers and the project description, so your story matches what you wrote.
Write down the dates of the roles you will talk about, so you can answer "when did you leave?" without guessing.
Note where your knowledge stops. If you left the industry in 2022, say so before you are asked about 2025.
Decide in advance which topics are off limits for you, such as a former employer's unreleased product or a customer under NDA, and draft the sentence you will use to decline.

5. Keep confidential information off the call, even when the client pushes

This is the part that can cost you a career. In 2011 the SEC charged a hedge fund and four portfolio managers and analysts in an expert network insider trading case in which technology company employees, moonlighting as expert network consultants, passed confidential information about their employers in return for what the SEC called sham consulting fees. The SEC's release says trades on that information made more than $30 million. The same release says it is legal to get expert advice through expert networks; trading on confidential information obtained in breach of a duty to keep it confidential is what is illegal.

Do not share on a call:

Your current or former employer's non-public numbers, such as revenue, margins, pricing or pipeline.
Unreleased products, deals, layoffs or results.
Anything you learned under a confidentiality agreement with a customer or supplier.

What you can share is how things generally work, your own judgment and public facts. When a question crosses the line, decline and offer the general version: "I can't share our numbers. I can tell you how buyers in this segment usually compare vendors." If the whole call drifts that way, end it. GLG tells experts to end any project that unexpectedly presents a compliance issue, and says they are paid for the time they set aside (GLG compliance). The post on material non-public information covers the rule in more detail, and what to do when you cannot share something shows the buyer's side of the same moment.

Short version: if you would be uncomfortable seeing the sentence in a transcript forwarded to your old boss, do not say it.

6. Get re-booked by being easy to learn from

Networks do not publish how they pick experts for repeat calls, so treat this as advice, not a formula. Clients remember experts who saved them time.

Answer first, then explain. Lead with the answer in one sentence, then give the reasoning. A client taking notes will thank you.
Separate what you saw from what you heard. "I ran that process" and "a peer told me" are different kinds of evidence, and clients weigh them differently.
Say "I don't know" quickly. A fast "that was outside my role" builds more trust than five minutes of guessing.
Respond to invitations fast. Guidepoint says its consultations are often completed within 72 hours of the initial request (Guidepoint). A reply the next week probably arrives after the project has filled.
Keep your profile current. A new role or a new area of work is a new set of projects you can be matched to.

If you are deciding whether to join networks at all, the post on becoming an expert network consultant covers sign-up and profiles, and how much GLG pays covers what the public record says about rates.

Take calls outside the networks too

Expert networks are one route. Companies, investors, founders and salespeople also invite professionals directly. On Instant Expert, a buyer invites you to a 15, 30, 45 or 60 minute paid call on a video link Instant Expert provides, or to a written or voice answer, and the invitation says what you would receive; you can reply with the price you want if the offer is low. Claim your profile to set your rate, or browse open paid requests on the request board. The healthcare consultants and supply chain consultants directories show the kind of profile buyers look for.

Before your next call, write the one sentence you will use to decline a confidential question. It is the most useful line of preparation you can do.