取经饭局该不该收费？

    如果你是个成功的专业人士，一定会有人搭讪：“很想知道您的成功秘诀。能一起吃个午饭吗？请多赐教。”经常遭遇这种情况的人常常觉得自己白白被人利用了。

    于是，很多专业人士开始为他们的头脑开价了。

    在eBay (EBAY) 6月份的慈善拍卖上，与巴菲特共进午餐的机会以346万美元的高价成交。赢家和7名朋友将与股神在纽约的史密斯-沃伦斯基（Smith and Wollensky）牛排餐馆共进午餐，目的只是为了在咀嚼、吞咽里脊肉的间隙能够聆听巴菲特的教诲，从他那里学到点投资智慧。

    考虑到巴菲特非凡的投资业绩，我们得说这顿午餐必定物有所值。而这些人也是花钱才得到了和商界名人交流的机会。

    先不管巴菲特的慈善义举，是不是每个人都可以为共进午餐收费呢？

    基思•麦克里欧德是亚利桑那州并购咨询公司商业中心（Business Center）的首席执行官，他对此很有意见：“在我50多年的商业生涯中，从来没有（为共进午餐）收费或交钱…如果那样，我宁愿起身就走。”对他来说，共进午餐不过是个和潜在客户拉关系的机会，借机推销公司的服务。他认为：“我收钱是由于我创造的价值…而不是一顿午餐的时间和开销。”

    也有人不同意他的看法。吉姆•安格尔顿担任首席执行官的Aegis FinServ公司提供债务解决和其它金融服务，他觉得合理的收费是可行的。

    但问题是，什么是合理？

    安格尔顿记得有一次他为寻求专业意见，联系了西联汇款（Western Union）的退休首席执行官。两通简短的电话之后，此人邀请安格尔顿在纽约共进午餐，不过他提出要求：“我们在哈佛俱乐部（Harvard Club）见，请备好一张写有我名字的9,000美元银行支票。”震惊之下，安格尔顿拒绝了邀请。

    然而他还是积极支持为服务收费，即使是以就餐为名也无妨。他估计：“我们每小时的成本是125美元，同行们也赞同这个价格。”他甚至有一个iPhone应用程序叫做小时跟踪（Hourly Tracker），对客户承付的费用了如指掌。考虑到他的工作性质，他觉得，和为客户所争取到的结果相比，自己的收费绝对物超所值。安格尔顿说他曾经为客户将200万美元债务降至40万美元。“多好的投资回报啊。”

    埃德利安•格雷厄姆是商业成长战略咨询公司EmpowerMe的创始人，面对大量的午餐邀请，她也深受困扰，甚至干脆出了本书，名为《我的脑子你借不起》（No You Can't Pick My Brain, It Costs Too Much）。书中涉及是否、以及何时与人分享其专长的几项原则。

    If you're an established professional, you've been approached -- "Would love to know how you got to your position. Could we have lunch? I'd love to pick your brain." People whose brains have been picked to death often wind up feeling like they are just being used.

    As a result, many professionals are now charging for their wisdom.

    In June, a charity auction was held for a power lunch with Warren Buffett: It fetched over $3.46 million on eBay (EBAY). The winning bidder and seven friends will lunch at New York City steakhouse Smith and Wollensky, all for the opportunity to glean whatever wisdom they can get in between bites of sirloin with the billionaire investor.

    Given Buffett's stellar investment track record, it would be fair to say that the knowledge contained in his brain is probably worth the price. But these people are also paying to be in the company of a business celebrity.

    Warren Buffett's charity exploits aside, is it fair for everyone to charge for a lunch date?

    "In my 50-plus years in business, I've never charged or been charged.... If told I would have to pay, I would get up and leave," says Keith McLeod, CEO of Business Center, an Arizona-based firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions. For McLeod, a lunch date is an opportunity to connect with prospective clients and a chance to showcase the kind of services he is able to offer. "My price is based on [the] value I create … and not for the time and cost of a lunch," he says.

    Not everyone agrees. Jim Angleton, president and CEO of Aegis FinServ Corp, which provides debt resolution and other financial services, believes that charging for lunch dates can work, if it's within reason.

    That's a big "if."

    Angleton recalls a time when he needed some professional advice. He reached out to a retired CEO of Western Union who, after two brief phone conversations, invited Angleton out for a lunch date in New York with the request, "Meet me at The Harvard Club and have a cashier's check prepared to my personal name for $9,000." Shocked, Angleton rejected the offer.

    Still, he is an avid proponent of charging for services, and if it's rendered over a meal, so be it. "We have assessed our cost per hour at $125 and that is upheld by other professionals within our industry," Angleton says. He even carries an iPhone app called Hourly Tracker, which keeps tabs on all expenses incurred on behalf of a client. Given the nature of the deals he negotiates for his clients, he believes that his hourly rate is more than fair for what he is able to deliver. Angleton says he negotiated a $2 million dollar debt down to $400,000 for one client. "It was an excellent return on investment."

    Adrienne Graham, founder of EmpowerMe, a business-growth strategy company, grew so frustrated by the onslaught of lunch date requests that she wrote a book called, No You Can't Pick My Brain, It Costs Too Much. Graham devised a few rules about if and when to share her expertise with others.