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&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;by Kristine Schoonmaker, MyConsultingLife.Com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interviews can be nerve-wracking, especially when what&amp;rsquo;s at stake is a role for you and a new project for your firm.&amp;nbsp; During the proposal process clients often want to meet the prospective team, or at least the key members, before they make their final decision.&amp;nbsp; And it&amp;rsquo;s understandable.&amp;nbsp; If you were going to pay someone even $50,000 for a project, never mind millions, wouldn&amp;rsquo;t you?&amp;nbsp; While you may have found internal staffing conversations to be less formal, this isn&amp;rsquo;t the place to wing it. Here are a few mistakes I personally witnessed this week that you should avoid if you find yourself in the hot seat.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Speaking too generically and overusing buzz words.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Every consulting firm a client considers is going to be concerned with strong project management, milestones and dependencies.&amp;nbsp; Don&amp;rsquo;t waste their time talking about these things in generic terms.&amp;nbsp; Let them know what makes you different than everyone else and what unique experiences and skills you bring to the team.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Answering the wrong question.&lt;/strong&gt; It&amp;rsquo;s normal to be nervous, but don&amp;rsquo;t be so consumed by it that you don&amp;rsquo;t listen to the question.&amp;nbsp; If you show you can&amp;rsquo;t understand what they are looking for before they even sign on the dotted line, they won&amp;rsquo;t have much confidence you&amp;rsquo;ll be able to do it when it really counts.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not following up when their question is unclear.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; By the same token, hearing the question, not understanding it and throwing any answer at the wall to see if it sticks is equally bad.&amp;nbsp; Like you should do in any conversation, if you don&amp;rsquo;t understand the question, don&amp;rsquo;t guess. Ask them to clarify what they mean.&amp;nbsp; Even if you don&amp;rsquo;t have a good answer, at least you&amp;rsquo;ll demonstrate strong listening skills. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Having only one example.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; If you&amp;rsquo;ve only worked on one project, that&amp;rsquo;s ok. But you don&amp;rsquo;t want to &lt;em&gt;sound&lt;/em&gt; like you have no experience to draw on. &amp;nbsp;Consider in advance how you might tee up your examples from your one client engagement so that they sound like they could be from different clients.&amp;nbsp; You might also want to have examples of other projects your firm has been involved in to share as things &amp;ldquo;we have done with other clients.&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp; Your goal is to build their confidence in you and your firm.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Taking a one-size fits all approach to their problem.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Just because you did something one way on your last project doesn&amp;rsquo;t mean it will work for every situation.&amp;nbsp; Clients want to know best practices but they also want to know you get their business.&amp;nbsp; Everyone thinks they are unique.&amp;nbsp; Build credibility by showing them you know what&amp;rsquo;s worked well before, but avoid sounding inflexible when you reference other engagements.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Being too casual.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; While you want them to feel comfortable with you, you aren&amp;rsquo;t old friends yet.&amp;nbsp; Casual language like &amp;ldquo;ya&amp;rsquo;ll,&amp;rdquo; &amp;ldquo;juicy,&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;stuff&amp;rdquo; are simply not appropriate for this type of conversation.&amp;nbsp; [Did she really say juicy?&amp;nbsp; Oh yes&amp;hellip;I heard it personally.]&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not knowing the client situation in advance.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; It always amazes me how many people walk into a situation and have NO idea what they are getting into.&amp;nbsp; Don&amp;rsquo;t make this mistake.&amp;nbsp; Have enough sense get the scoop on the scope of their project before the meeting.&amp;nbsp; Using examples of what you&amp;rsquo;ve done with 100 people, when they are talking about 5000 doesn&amp;rsquo;t translate.&amp;nbsp; If you don&amp;rsquo;t know how you would handle something of that size or scope, at least ask a subject matter expert or more seasoned consultant in your firm who would know.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Talking over the client when they are trying to clarify their question.&lt;/strong&gt; This can be a challenge when you are on the phone, but if you hear background noise, don&amp;rsquo;t just keep talking.&amp;nbsp; Stop and ask if someone was trying to interject rather than continuing to talk over them. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not understanding the role they want you to play.&lt;/strong&gt; Are you building the system or building the training for the system?&amp;nbsp; Do they have an internal team you&amp;rsquo;ll be leading or are you doing the work?&amp;nbsp; If they realize you&amp;rsquo;re unclear about the role, its way too easy to start questioning whether you have the skills to do what they want you to do. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not giving an answer when they ask for a recommendation.&lt;/strong&gt; This may be your first face to face meeting with the client but you should always have a going in position about your work stream based on the background information you have.&amp;nbsp; If they ask for a specific recommendation, you don&amp;rsquo;t have to commit to an answer but at least be able to refer to &amp;ldquo;best practices to keep in mind&amp;rdquo; based on their project needs.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;So what&amp;rsquo;s my advice to avoid these mistakes?&amp;nbsp; Do your homework, prepare well, know what makes you different, have a perspective and be professional.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kristine Schoonmaker&lt;/strong&gt; is The Career &amp;amp; Lifestyle Coach for Consultants and founder of MyConsultingLife.com&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;Her bi-weekly ezine Accelerate offers practical insider advice and quick tips from a former consulting exec to help YOU take greater control of your career and stay engaged in your personal life from the road&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;em&gt;If you&amp;rsquo;re ready to have it all &amp;ndash; an amazing career in consulting without giving up the lifestyle, relationships and experiences you want, get your FREE subscription now at www.myconsultinglife.com.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;float: left;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/articles/LogoTagline_72res.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;252&quot; height=&quot;55&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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