A couple weeks ago, I announced on LinkedIn that I was taking on a new role at Citrix. I’ve been with Citrix Consulting for the last 15 years.

It’s been an incredible 15 years — 1.3 million miles, 1,358 hotel nights, 500+ projects, 58 original blog posts, 27 speaking engagements/events, six promotions, a wife, two kids, and a dog. It’s hard to believe all those things happened since I joined the Citrix Consulting family.

I fell in love with consulting because it’s really challenging and, as my first boss told me, “All projects come to an end.” And believe me, I’ve been staffed on some interesting projects over the years — everything from a one-day issue-resolution project (where I found a virus on the primary ZDC) to a year-long, full lifecycle gig in Alaska (where we played softball at midnight in broad daylight) to the first XenDesktop project ever in Moscow.

I wouldn’t trade any of it. In fact, when I was interviewing for my new role, one of the hiring managers told me that professional services was great because it enables you to learn about 50 percent more than any other job during the same time span. And after you’ve worked 60-hour weeks, traveled 50 weeks a year, and done four back-to-back IAs in Canada, you know it’s true.

Anyway, I could ramble on forever about my travels or all the fun projects I’ve been on, but what I really wanted to do, with this final post of my Citrix Consulting chapter, was share five key lessons I’ve learned after 15 years in the consulting business.

Do Your Homework!

I can’t stress how important it is in this business to be prepared and use your time wisely. I’m an efficiency nut and planner by nature, so this comes fairly easy for me. But proper planning and preparation makes your life a lot easier.

Before you go on that next project, try to learn as much about your customer and their business as possible. And be ready to roll the first hour you’re onsite — they aren’t paying us to hang out or to take our time.

Of course, I’d do the basic stuff like hit the company’s website and make sure I knew their business, their products, and their leadership team. But I’d also grab their last earnings transcript and read it on the plane. I’d “stalk” some of their leaders on LinkedIn and see if I knew them or their prior companies so I could make a quick connection. I’d also look at our internal systems so I knew what they owned and if they have any open cases or recent issues. I’d use my home lab to simulate the customer’s environment. And I’d always work on the plane. That was easy for me because I don’t sleep on planes. I’d use that time to create a formal project kickoff deck so they knew I was ready as soon as I got onsite.

It really pays to do your homework. I can’t tell you what putting in a few extra hours of prep, whether on the plane or on a Sunday afternoon, did for my credibility with our customers.

Document Everything. And I Mean Everything.

Good consultants know how to document. Great consultants know how to document everything. And I’m not talking about doing “just enough” to CYA. I’m talking about going the extra mile and documenting everything that might be important one day.

Did you have a seemingly informal conversation with the project sponsor about a potential scope change? Document it by sending a follow-up email to him/her right afterward. Do you think you’re getting behind schedule due to lack of customer-resource availability? Fire off a risk register immediately and document it. Did the customer not accept or reply to that final deliverable you sent via email? Upload that deliverable email with a timestamp to a secure repository for safe-keeping.

Trust me, it pays to document everything in this line of work. If you don’t like documentation or writing, this is not the job for you.

Follow-Up!

The best consultants know how to follow through and follow up. I’m not talking about sending a deliverable out on every project in a timely manner. I’m talking about returning every phone call within 48 hours, returning every email addressed to you, getting back to every customer every single time you say you’ll get back to them.

This has to be part of your DNA. You can’t follow-up only 90 percent of the time — that isn’t good enough in this business. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said, “I don’t know, but I’ll follow up and get back to you.” And if you know me, you better believe I followed up each and every time. I used to bring a notepad everywhere on projects so I had a record of everything I needed to follow up on. Whether you’re recording every request on paper or you have a great memory, just get back to people in a timely manner. Every time.

Soft Skills Are Critical

This is one that took me a while to learn, but I feel more strongly about it every day. I used to pride myself on being super technical: I knew hundreds of regkeys by heart and every communication port and I have technical certifications from Cisco, VMware, Microsoft, and more.

But then I realized while working on larger engagements (I led five or six that were six months or longer) that I didn’t need technical depth anymore — I needed more breadth and the soft skills I had simply weren’t good enough.

When it comes to soft skills, I’m not talking about just being a good communicator or having solid documentation skills. I’m talking about being able to figure out who a negative stakeholder is, to gauge a customer’s risk tolerance, and to quickly navigate the office politics you’ve just walked into. These are the things that really separate the good consultants from the great ones.

In the last years of my consulting career, I stopped renewing my technical certs and memorizing ports. Instead, I was getting certified in project/program management, reading books on social psychology, and taking outside seminars to raise my eQ. Just this past year, I took an executive course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to strengthen my soft skills. Hands-down, it was one of the best things I’ve done professionally. A day at the Stanford “D” School to trick my brain into thinking differently and classes on the neuroscience of decision making, storytelling, and “acting with power”? The experience was priceless, and I’ve applied everything I learned to my consulting engagements. For example, whenever I could dictate the schedule, I’d deliver the final key findings presentation on Thursday morning (vs. afternoon like I did for many years) since serotonin levels are highest then – I found customers being much more open to my recommendations and follow-on engagements using this simple trick.

Make no mistake, a solid technical foundation is important. But if I could go back, I’d start branching out earlier, get out of my comfort zone, and build my soft skills as fast as possible.

Share the Love!

We’re all busy, and working in a consulting role typically means 50 to 60 hour weeks, every week. I implore you to carve out two or three hours a week to give back. Share lessons learned with your colleagues and all those new best practices with the blogosphere or your community. Ask to present at every internal and external conference you attend. Write blog posts when you’re on the plane. No matter how you do it, just share!

I decided about 10 years ago to start blogging and presenting at BriForum every year. It changed my career. I was immediately seen as a “thought leader” within the company and industry. I was asked to present at more events that took me to more amazing places and allowed me to network with more smart people. And the best part? I’ve had dozens of people come up to me over the years thanking me for a particular blog post or presentation.

It’s all about giving back. When you’re learning as much as a consultant does working on a new project in a new vertical almost every week, it’s almost negligent not to share your knowledge with others. Share the love and help everyone get better.

There are so many other things I’ve learned in my Citrix Consulting career, but these are five that stood out for me (and that I wish someone had told me when I started). I hope they’ll resonate with you, whether you’re a consulting veteran or just starting your consulting career.

I’m off to my next challenge now — the wild world of Customer Success. I have a lot to learn, and, rest assured, I’ll be sharing as I go. 😉