Now that it’s been over 6 months since my last client meeting, I’ve had some time to reflect on my time spent as an interactive consultant. The one thing I realized the other day was that I actually miss client meetings from time-to-time.

Sure, they were challenging at times but there’s really nothing better than discussing a clients business and technical challenges with the understanding that I’d be given an opportunity to help them through it.

When I was “out in the field,” I met some really good consultants, some bad ones and some down right ugly ones – think greasy used car salesman that talks you into adding “the sports package” when all you wanted was a good, reliable vehicle. The other day a former colleague asked “how do you avoid being the bad or ugly consultant?”

I thought of a few things right away but here are the top 5 things I would suggest keeping in mind if you are an aspiring consultant:

1. Listen
Shhhhh . . . seriously. Sit in the meeting and ask questions of course but just listen. You might have a great product to sell, a great business, a great team or you might even have a great personality but you really need to shut the hell up. It’s NOT about you. Start by listening to people. Let them tell you about their business, their families, even what they do in their spare time. Next, come to understand who their audience is because after all, they are the ones who pay the bills. If you are lucky, you might just hear everything you need to create not only a kick ass business/interactive roadmap but also cultivate a long term relationship.

2. Lead
Ask yourself this question: why am I here? Not in the philosophical sense – although it might be worth it to ask your self that question from time to time- but why am I meeting with this client? If the client could do it all themselves, don’t you think they would have done it already? They’re looking to you for guidance and leadership so while you’re listening, think about how you’re going to mould the clients “ideas” into something special.

3. Initiate
Initiate a strategic roadmap based on everything that the client has told you – even some of the personal stuff if it’s appropriate. This will ultimately get you complete buy-in from the client and it will set the table for proper execution. Put together a plan, approach, and scope of work that is appropriate to what you’ve just heard and lead the development of your creative and technical vision for the project.

4. Execute
When you are ready to execute, stand by your strategic roadmap but learn to understand when and where you should incorporate a clients ideas or propose an alternate solution. The key is to stay flexible and figure out the right solution.

5. Care
Last but not least, you need to care. A lot. If you often find yourself saying you just don’t care or you care little about the effects of your decisions, your client will be on to you. At that point, it’s probably time to get a job where you can care a little less.