Outdoors when I can't shoot in manual mode or when I use fill flash I use evaluative metering with single point focus. The nice thing is that evaluative metering will be performed at the point of focus. The exposure isn't always perfect, but it is generally close enough that only a small correction in Lightroom is required.
I generally set one focus point to the right of center, one above center, and one to the left and activate Orientation linked AF point on my 7D so I can use my camera horizontally or flip it vertically to either the right or left. I then focus on the model's eye and recompose as little as possible.
Interestingly enough, the face plus hair of a Caucasian or light skinned Asian with dark hair is pretty close to 18% gray, which is why evaluative metering works pretty well with those subjects. For a blond Caucasian model, however, exposure compensation would probably be needed to increase the exposure when using evaluative metering. With a dark skinned model, evaluative exposure metering would result in an overexposure so using exposure compensation to decrease the exposure would be necessary.
If you use spot metering as opposed to evaluative you should realize that Caucasian and light Asian skin is about one step lighter than 18% gray. If you are spot metering on those types of skin need to use exposure compensation to increase the exposure about 1 stop. With dark skinned models exposure compensation is needed to decrease the exposure.
In manual mode with constant lighting I generally set the aperture for the desired depth of field then have the model hold an 90% white card and adjust the exposure to 1/3 stop less than the one that will cause the white card to be blown out.
With studio strobes I shoot strictly manually with a fixed shutter speed. adjust the aperture to get the desired depth of field, and adjust the strobe power levels to get an exposure of 1/3 less than that required to start blowing out the white card.
Using a white card this way is pushing the exposure pretty hard to the right so decreasing the exposure by another 1/3 or 2/3 steps might suit someone else better. One note of caution, sometimes white clothing, some other object in the photo, or the background is "whiter" than the white card so it is necessary to adjust the exposure to less than what the white card indicates in order to preserve texture in that object.
A typical 18% Gray/90% White card is the Kodak one:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/27715-REG/Kodak_1903061.html 
