How to Pick the Brain of Successful People

If that’s the case, you’re not alone.

Maybe you felt daunted and forgot what you were going to say.

Maybe you had trouble expressing yourself clearly and digressed from what you wanted to say.

Maybe the successful person lost interest in you and walked off.

These are some of the problems we’re going to solve in this post.

But before we get into solving these problems, it’s important to note that to get on the radar of a successful person is a completely different story from picking the brain of this person.

The first is about getting attention and the second is about getting information and learning things.

I’m going to assume that you’ve already got the attention of the successful person and that rapport has been established.

When I use the word “rapport” I don’t mean that you necessarily have to know this person from before, what I do mean is that you’ve connected with the successful person and started off the interaction in a positive way.

Ok.

Now that you’re in a conversation with the successful person you’re interested in making the most of it!

What to Do Once You Have Their Attention

There are a couple of things that you’ll want to keep in mind when you speak to successful people, regardless of whether it’s in person, via email, or over the phone:

They’re Low on Time

Successful people didn’t get that way by accident. They became successful by spending their time efficiently. Usually this means that they’ve got work to do and things to attend to. You must respect that and act accordingly, less is more in these situations.

Because they tend to be rather busy, you need to be as brief and succinct as you can be. This calls for some preparation.

Prepare an Elevator Pitch

You should be able to present yourself, what you do, and to let the other person know what you’re looking to get out of the interaction as quickly and clearly as possible.

It should take no longer than 30 seconds.

A tip when it comes to your elevator pitch: to stick to facts and avoid interests or likes.

Speak Normally

I get it. You’re dealing with a highly successful person, and it can get scary. And when things are scary you tend to get shy.

The two best ways of dealing with this is to remember to:

• Speak normally. Speak as if you were speaking to a friend.
• Focus on how interested you are in learning from this person.

Pick the Brain of the Successful Person

Prepare Questions

In order to avoid digressing you’ll need to have a couple of questions prepared in advance. These questions will be specific and tailor-made to what you want to learn from this successful person.

A few general questions might be good to have in your war chest as well. Here are my five personal favorites:

• I’m doing XYZ… Can you help me with this? Can you put me in contact with someone you know  that might be able to help me do this?
• I’m trying to do XYZ… What would you do if you were in my position?
• You are doing XYZ… Is there anything I can do to help you?
• Could you recommend me 3 books that have had a major impact on your life/career?
• What does you daily routine look like?

I’ve found that you will usually get some great answers from these questions.

When you ask your questions, be sure to listen intently to what the successful person has to say. Never interrupt. Wait until the other person is finished, then you ask the next question.

This is basic, I know. But it’s vitally important!

Assess the Situation:

What I’ve mentioned so far are only rules of thumb. Naturally there’s going to be times that you can avert from these principles.

Maybe the successful person isn’t in a hurry at all, and would appreciate a long and friendly conversation?

That may be so. Each situation is unique.

To get a better sense of what kind of situation you’re currently dealing with you can assess it by asking yourself the following questions:

• Is there time?

There usually isn’t.

• Is the successful person going somewhere or can you settle in for a lengthy conversation?

In that case you can start off with some small talk and build rapport. Be sure to pick a topic of mutual interest.

The more you do this, the easier it gets. You develop a sort of built-in radar for detecting common interests.

• Are there other people waiting around?

Then it’s probably a good idea to respect that there’s a queue and be brief.

However, sometimes this isn’t a problem. There are times when it doesn’t matter if there are other people in line, for example if these people aren’t signaling any kind of urgency or interest.

If this is the case, then it’s their own fault – and you can use it to your advantage.

Here’s a strategy you can use.

[DISCLAIMER]: you might be perceived as an asshole. But sometimes it’s worth it.

• Simply keep going. If the successful person isn’t showing any signs of impatience or disinterest, just keep going until you’re finished. It’s really the other people’s fault for not showing their interest clearly enough.

End on Top, or Not?

You’ll definitely want to extend the conversation for as long as possible in order to extract as much information as possible from the successful person.

But, it’s a fine line between being perceived as a person who is genuinely interested and trying to learn things, and that of being perceived as desperate and pushy.

If you’ve started off the conversation on the right foot it shouldn’t be a problem going a bit longer.

Consider the following two things:

• 1. If you’re looking to continue the conversation, you’ll definitely want to be brief and end on a highpoint so that the successful person remembers you in a positive way when you send a follow-up email, talk on the phone, or meet again.

End the conversation on top by saying: “It was great talking to you. Can I have your contact information?”

• 2. If you know that you’re not going to see this person again it might a good idea to try to extend the conversation for as long as possible and eventually be cut off by the successful person.

Over to you…

What are some of the ways that you use to pick the brain of successful people?

 

Author Bio:

Ludvig Sunström runs Start Gaining Momentum, where he writes about practical self-development and gives no-nonsense tips for becoming more efficient. He is also the author of Breaking out of Homeostasis, a book about reclaiming control over your life by overcoming the brain’s innate mechanism of staying the same. Feel free to connect with him on Twitter and Google+.

 

Photo credit: voguemarie2010