Buying an Expert Network

1. Total network size and growth trajectory (with documented evidence). 2. Coverage map by sector, geography and seniority. 3. Sample expert profiles (3 per priority category — anonymised). 4. Average time from brief to first call (over last 90 days). 5. Replacement rate if first expert is unsuitable.

6. Documented compliance framework (cooling-off, MNPI, conflicts, NDA). 7. Sample audit-trail record (anonymised). 8. Most recent external audit report. 9. Sector-specific compliance overlays (healthcare KOL, financial services MAR, defense ITAR). 10. Data residency options and standard contractual clauses for international transfers.

11. Account team structure (senior researcher direct or via account-manager triage?). 12. Project-handling capacity at peak load (how many concurrent active projects?). 13. SLA on response times and turnaround commitments. 14. Briefing format support (written brief, kick-off call, both). 15. Deliverable format options (notes, transcripts, synthesis docs).

16. Published per-call rate range. 17. Annual minimum (if any) and how it's calculated. 18. Project package discounts and structures. 19. Subscription components and whether they're bundled. 20. Year-2 escalator clauses.

21. Three reference clients in similar segments to yours (with permission to contact). 22. Sample project history with anonymised outcomes — what worked, what didn't.

Compliance: 25%. Service model + account team: 25%. Pricing transparency: 20%. Network coverage relevant to your use case: 20%. References + operating maturity: 10%. Be wary of any vendor scoring above 9/10 on every criterion — perfect scores usually reflect marketing rather than capability.

Trap 1: weighting network size too high (above 1M is largely indistinguishable; what matters is depth in your specific category). Trap 2: weighting compliance as a checkbox (it's binary — they have it or they don't, weight isn't the right framing). Trap 3: not testing the service model with a real brief during the RFP. Trap 4: relying on vendor-provided references only — go find your own contacts at the vendor's claimed clients.

After the RFP narrows to 2-3 finalists, run a paid pilot project with each — same brief, same deliverable expectation, same timeline. Cost: €5-10k per finalist. This single exercise will tell you more about vendor fit than any document-based RFP can. Don't skip it.