The people-skills you should have if you want to become a business consultant
A lot of people think that the key to being a business consultant is having the right technical skills. In reality you will find that your people skills are far more important to your success as a consultant.
The most important skill that you have to have if you are going to be a successful consultant is the ability to listen. You have to be able to listen to what people are telling you. This is an area that a lot of people really struggle with, mostly because they go into things with their own ideas already in place. You have to be able to talk to the people at the business you are consulting with and learn what their problems are and what they need help with. Keep in mind that you need to be able to talk with the employees at the company and not just the management, often you will learn more from the employees.
A good business consultant also has to be able to present his ideas effectively. There is little value to figuring out what the solution to the problem is if you can't explain it clearly to the people who need to know it. You will need to be able to explain things in a clear way, often while speaking in front of a group of people. Most people hate the idea of public speaking but if you are going to be a consultant you had better be good at it.
Another important skill that you are going to have to have if you are going to be a consultant is team work. There is no way that you are going to fix a company's problems without the help of the employees so you are going to have to be able to work with them. That means that you are going to have to be able to show up and quickly make yourself part of the team. In a lot of cases you will find that there is no team work at the company at all and that this will be an issue you need to address so you should have good team building skills as well.
If you are going to be a business consultant you are going to have to be a leader, this is something that a lot of consultants really struggle with. It will be necessary to get your client to follow your lead and make the changes that you are recommending. If you are not an effective leader it is unlikely that you will be able to get them to do this. It is not enough to have the answers to the problem you have to be able to convince people that you are the one who can lead them to where they want to go, otherwise they are very unlikely to use your answers.