Breaking In !!

Having recently established a catering consultancy business, it is proving a little difficult to "break in" to the market on the basis that a majority of our prospects say they are happy with current arrangements, or they use the services of a consultant that they are happy with. Is this common to just the catering consultancy market or is this the case with a majority of consultancies?

Has anyone any ideas that may just assist in "breaking in"

Peter.

I think this is a problem in all areas of consulting unfortunately. It's a way of making the sales person go away! I don't know what size you are targeting, but I have found BNI (www.bni-europe.com) good for getting to small to medium sized businesses. Generally, networking is more effective than sales, because their guard is more likely to be down when you meet them. Other ways could be to ask if you can have a particular project to prove your ability (ie low risk to them) or to offer a fee based on satisfaction. Hope that helps!