If you are an expert on one particular field and if you want to make money by sharing your expertise to other people, you can design and sell consulting services. Here’s what you need to do to increase your sign up rate exponentially:

1. Plan and execute an aggressive marketing campaign. Start by understanding the online behavior of your target market. Know how much time they spend online on a daily basis, the websites that they often visit, and the keywords that they are using on major search engines. By knowing these information, you can easily figure out the best internet marketing tools to use, the amount of time and money you need to spend on your advertising campaign, and the potential outcome.

2. List building. Truth be told, it’s quite impossible to get your prospects to sign up with you the first time that you offer them your consulting services. The key here is keeping in touch with these people until such time that you build rapport with them. Obtain their email addresses and their phone numbers using effective list building techniques. Then, send your prospects with informative newsletters or updates about your consulting services on a weekly basis. You can also call them up. Make sure that you communicate the benefits of your offerings each time you do so increase your chances of making a sale.

3. Establish your expertise. People are most likely to sign up with you if they know that you are truly an expert on your chosen niche. Convince them that you have what it takes to help them to get to where they would like to be by sharing a slice of your expertise using article marketing, blogging, and by hosting webinars and teleseminars. The more valuable information you share, the higher your chances of earning the trust of your prospects.

4. Treat your customers right. This is really the secret to succeed in this field. If you want your customers to do repeat business with you and if you want them to recommend you to other people, you got to treat them right. Aside from offering them with compelling consulting services, you must also offer them with great customer service.

5. Offer freebies and discounts. If you are going against a lot of consultants (including the big dogs), it would work to your advantage if you can offer freebies and discounts from time to time. Experience has taught me that buyers simply love getting something for free so this can surely help you capture their attention in no time.

If you are a sports fan, chances are you have made statements about the winning or losing team. Die-hard fans may rattle off historical information about the success or failure of certain teams. Others may place bets during a championship game hoping to win “the pot” for their selection.

Millions of people play the lottery everyday hoping to win the “jack pot”. There are many instances or people crossing the state boarder to play the lottery, because their resident state has not legalized lotteries. Someone always has the winning ticket, but out of millions of participants, the odds of winning are against you.

Today you may feel like you have a lucky streak, so you decide to try your luck out in a Las Vegas casino. People cross the globe just to win in Las Vegas. Many have success and even more don’t. Who profits more the casino or the people trying their luck? Of course the casino or it would be closed down.

All of the examples mentioned above are the chances of success or the probability of success. In other words, chance is a mathematical probability of success or failure. These examples mentioned are for everyday people, something to do just for fun, unless you are over extending your finances for that “one shot” of success.

What about businesses such as telecommunication, finance, or retail. These businesses have employees that receive regular paychecks and customers who purchase products or services. It is necessary for a business to have a competitive edge in order to meet their return on investment (ROI) and to have marketing strategies in place to ensure they are targeting the correct customers for maximum success of purchase and reduced company expenditures.

Every business should be concern with customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and customer retention because these concepts are what drive profit. In today’s challenging economy and competitive business world, retaining your customers is critical to your success. You must give customers reasons to stay, otherwise your competitor with give them a reason to leave. If you have dissatisfied employees are they going to give you everything they have, take pride in their job, and help drive business to your company? All it takes is for one customer to be offended and they will tell their friends about how badly they were treated.

Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. Statistics provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on the data. Statistical methods can be used to summarize a collection of data. Patterns in the data may be modeled in a way that accounts for uncertainty in the observations, and are then used to draw estimations about the population of interest.

Statistics can be misused by finding ways to interpret the data that are favorable to the presenter. In my experience, if that is done, it always come back to “bite you in the butt”. I am amazed of the many different non-statistical disciplines that are hired to do statistical work in the business world. As mentioned, statistics is a mathematical science and only educated and trained statisticians should be considered for helping to grow and/or save your business. I mean you would only go to a doctor to save your life and not say a first grade school teacher.

Statistical consulting is the most challenging and rewarding part of statistics. A statistical consultant uses the mathematical science of statistics to solve a practical problem. Many statistical consultants run their own business, and to be successful should have a technical background in statistics and an entrepreneur spirit.

You may need a statistical consultant for the following:

Do you have questions about statistics in general or need statistical tutoring or statistical consulting?
Do you want statistics explained to you in simple terms using concrete examples?
Do you need to learn what design of experiment will best answer your question?
Do you need to develop models to estimate the present or predict the future?
Do you need help using a statistical software package such as SAS?
Would you like help interpreting your statistical output and drawing conclusions from your data?
Do you have data with non-normal patterns?
Would you like help in preparing tables, listings, and graphs for your report?
Do you need help combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, data collection, or data analysis?
Would you like help designing a survey or questionnaire?
Would you like help with the appropriate sample size determination?
Would you like help with data mining?
Do you need help with technical writing?
Would you like the assistance of a statistical consultant at a conference or summit?

Melinda Richmond is the founder of Statistical & Analytical Research Associates, LLC. She has a master of statistics degree from North Carolina State University and for nearly twenty years has dedicated her education and career to learning the mathematical science of statistics. You can learn more by visiting the following website:

The consulting business has been booming in these tough economic times. It has become a way for experts to replace their previous incomes and still live a very comfortable life without a lot of overhead in their business. Read on to see if you can benefit from such a business.

You can become a consultant for just about any topic on earth. As long as you are an expert, or at least know more about the topic than your client, you can become a consultant.

The start-up supplies are extremely low. You can work out of your own home. All you need is a computer, fax, a phone, some decent clothes, and your brain to start. Eventually you may want an office, where clients can come to you, or you can choose to come to them. You may even pick a virtual consulting model where you don’t charge as much, because you only communicate via phone and Internet.

You will need to create a basic business contract that should probably be written by a lawyer, covering you basic interests and eliminating your personal liability. You will also need to create a corporate structure for yourself, such as a LLC. This will also protect your personal assets in case you get sued.

You will agree on a time-frame, give the client a quote for the number of hours you are willing to work, and at what price. You will also state how the final information will be delivered, probably in some kind of multi-page report, depending on the industry.

There are many consultants that act as monitors for large companies, so that the company does not have to hire monitors themselves. This is true of the pharmaceutical industry and many other manufacturing industries, like textiles, where a person needs to go to the factory and oversee production. Consulting roles are everywhere and they are here to stay.

Joshua Black is an on-line infopreneur, marketing consultant, author and educator dedicated to helping the bootstrapping small business owner succeed.

Would you like to start a career in the field of consulting? Then, here’s what you need to do:

1. Bank on your expertise. The first thing that you need to do is to decide the field of consulting where you would like to sink your teeth into. When doing so, make sure that you take into consideration your skills and your expertise. If you are good in running a business, you can be a business consultant; if you are an expert in online marketing, you can be an internet consultant. It’s very important that you are very knowledgeable on your chosen niche to increase your chances of succeeding in this field.

2. Develop and improve your skills. As a consultant, it is crucial that you have excellent analytical, communication, motivation, research, and persuasion skills. Don’t worry if you do not possess these skills as you can learn them overtime. Read relevant online and offline resources. Also, take advantage of relevant trainings and seminars. Working closely with people who possess these skills and constant practice can also help.

3. Experience counts. Increase your chances of being hired by getting relevant experience on your chosen niche. If you find it difficult to convince prospects to sign up, I recommend that you offer your services for free or take advantage of internship programs. Employers give priority to those people who have already tried their hands on this field as they will not require too many trainings and seminars.

4. Recommendations. See if you can get your previous clients to recommend you to your prospective employers. If these people are extremely happy with your services, they are most likely to write letters of recommendations. These recommendations can surely make you look more valuable to the eyes of your potential employers.

5. Resume. Your resume will determine your chances of securing a spot on the interviewer’s table. So, make it compelling and powerful as much as possible. Aside from loading it up with relevant educational background, experiences, and trainings, you must also put in the skills that you think can increase your chances of being hired. Your resume must be easy on the eyes and well-written. It must not contain any type of error that can be taken against you.

6. Prepare for the interview. Anticipate all the questions that the interviewer might ask you and prepare your answers right away. By doing so, you will not be caught off-guarded and you’ll be able to offer your interviewer the best possible answers.