Expert Guide

This page provides overall guidelines and protocols for Expert by Big Village experts. If you have any questions, please call us at 1-800-833-8055 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Central Standard Time (USA). You can also e-mail us at experts@expertengine.com.

General Information

Expert by Big Village’s policy is to minimize rules and complex procedures in the operation of its network of experts. We rely on your dedication, integrity, and professionalism to ensure that the service you provide is of maximum benefit to the client.

Service Expectations

Expert by Big Village is an Internet service that provides answers to questions through consulting from a certified network of experts. Expert by Big Village is a trademark of Big Village.

As an Expert by Big Village Expert, clients will expect you to provide enthusiastic service in a timely manner. If you have any client issues, please call Expert by Big Village and inform us of the situation. If you become aware of additional client needs, please refer the client back to us at 1-800-833-8055 for additional assistance. If you know of another expert who may be able to assist the client, please contact us at 1-800-833-8055 so that we can recruit him or her if qualified. Please do not refer the client to an expert who is not associated with Expert by Big Village.

You should generally be available to respond to potential client work during normal working hours (8:00 – 5:00 in your time zone). You should make every effort to return calls and e-mails within 24 hours. If you will be unavailable for an extended period of time, please contact us at experts@expertengine.com or 1-800-833-8055 so that we will know when you are unavailable.

Proprietary Considerations

Even though most inquiries and interactions will not involve proprietary knowledge, both you and the client are ultimately responsible for protecting knowledge that would be considered proprietary. As an expert, you agree to hold in confidence any knowledge that is identified by the client as confidential. A client may ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement identifying the proprietary knowledge and the length of time it must be held in confidence.

Experts are not required to disclose information that is confidential or proprietary to the expert. An expert may advise the client on how to make arrangements for disclosure, or refer the client back to Expert by Big Village.

As a general policy, you should not discuss with anyone the identity or concerns of any Expert by Big Village client, even if the information has not been identified as confidential. However, you should feel free to discuss non-confidential inquiries with colleagues if doing so will help in the provision of service.

Consulting Projects

When Expert by Big Village receives a consulting request, we evaluate it and contact qualified experts. If we contact you, and you respond to us that you are interested and available, an Expert by Big Village representative will arrange a conference call with you and the client to determine the scope of work (does it involve on-site consultation, design reviews, laboratory testing, expert witnessing, in-depth research, etc.), the schedule for the proposed project, and whether the project is a fit for you.

After this scoping call, if the project is a fit for you, you will need to let us know your rates and requirements for the project. We will take your rates and requirements and create a proposal. When the client agrees to the proposal, you will be set up as an independent contractor of Expert by Big Village and invoice and bill Expert by Big Village , not Expert by Big Village client.

To receive payments for active projects according to the rate and expense provisions of the project agreement, click the ‘Projects’ link in the top blue bar when you are logged into Expert by Big Village. You will see a box listing your active projects. Click the ‘create new’ link under Invoice Action for the appropriate project and follow the instructions.

“Quick Consulting” Events

Rarely, you may receive an email or phone call directly from an Expert by Big Village subscription client if we determine their need is too small to justify a scoping call and can be addressed by you in an hour or less. These requests are classified as “Quick Consulting” Events. Like all opportunities presented to you, they are optional according to your availability and interest. These “Quick Consulting” Events have a fixed fee associated with them, which is listed in the fee schedule. If you accept and complete a “Quick Consulting” Event, you then submit an online “voucher form” to be paid.

NOTE: Within a “Quick Consulting” Event, clients are allowed to spend up to 10 minutes at no charge for screening to see if you are a match for their request. As long as the client is not asking for advice and you are not providing assistance, the conversation is considered not billable. If the client should request advice during the initial screening, tell the client that the conversation will then be billable.

Message Board Messages

Expert by Big Village provides the option for a client to remain anonymous during a “Quick Consulting” Event by contacting you via our message board. This option is rarely used, but in such instances, you will first receive an e-mail from Expert by Big Village notifying you that a client has submitted a question. Included in this e-mail will be a link to the web address where you can read the client’s question and submit your answer. To receive payment, you again would go to the expert website at https://www.expertengine.com/, login, and submit an online “voucher form”.

Event Definition and Protocol

Although project-based consulting opportunities are far more common, if you do receive and accept a “Quick Consulting” Event, the following information applies.

An event is defined as a discussion on a single subject lasting one hour or less in length. An event may include multiple telephone discussions or emails you may conduct with a user over a period of five or fewer business days and also includes any “offline” time you may require for research to effectively answer the user’s specific question. At times, a consultation may require more than a single event charge. You are expected to assess this at the beginning of the event and to communicate the need for additional event charges upfront with the user.

Certain events may require more or less time depending on the complexity of the user inquiry. Should a discussion exceed a total of one hour by a reasonable number of minutes, you are urged to complete the event without any additional event charge. You alone determine the “cost-value” perception that each user always evaluates following an event with an Expert by Big Village expert.

The following policy guidelines will assist you in determining the need for additional event charges:

Always “scope” the nature of the user’s question at the beginning of each event. It will usually be readily apparent early in your event if additional event charges are necessary. You charge for additional events when you close out the event on the Expert by Big Village expert website at https://www.expertengine.com/.

Always ensure the telephone conversation or e-mail exchanges throughout the event with the client remain focused on the single question or subject area that the user first engaged you.

If you choose to accept an event-based consulting opportunity, you will be paid according to the Quick Consult Event fee shown in the Fee Schedule.

Expert by Big Village is committed to providing value and overall satisfaction to customers. You, the expert, will be the determining factor in ensuring clients always find value in Expert by Big Village expert knowledge services!