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Qualifications of Successful Consultants
by Valerie Geller
Veteran Valerie Geller has consulted stations in all 50 states and 33
foreign countries. What qualifications does she believe a successful
consultant should possess? Here are her observations.
•Have knowledge, experience, and a successful track record. The
people who hire you like to know that you’ve had past successes—
and a lot of them! I began consulting after working for years in the
•Focus on one thing at a time: Consulting allows you
the luxury to hone in on what you like to do. For me,
it’s working with talent and programming to help
strengthen on air performance and help people better
•Flexibility: When you work as a consultant, try as
you might, you can’t “make” people change.
They have to want to. Your job as a consultant is
•Learn from others: Back when I was employed at radio stations, I
had an opportunity to work with a lot of different consultants.
From some I learned what to do, and from others, what not to do.
Radio is an art form. Good consultants listen. They have
•Finally, as a colleague once said to me: “It costs
nothing to be nice.” Performers are famous for
having fragile egos, so, I try when I can, to be
To sum up the qualifications, it’s important to have:
•Knowledge: And the ability to listen and to understand what’s
right, what’s wrong, and importantly, how to work with “what is.”
•Empathy and a desire to do right by the client.
