how do i get people to buy my gourmet desserts

have a free sampler and some on the side incase some one wants to buy.do you have a website?
set up at the county fair

College students are not going to pay for expensive desserts.

I was at the hairdresser one day, and this lady came in with free samples of her desserts that were for sale. Most people bought a slice or two, and one lady, who manages an old folks home, set the chick up with a catering contract.

Go to high end restaurants and offer samples to the Executive chef and her staff.

get your own website online and advertise your desserts.

As all the other advisors before me have suggested - advertise, advertise, advertise. What about networking ..at parties & so on.
The more people u know, the more word will get around. What about ur clients' friends - could she/he not recommend you? And maybe do not just stick to desserts, people that want caterers like the whole tootie, so maybe u could offer them that. What about a three course meal, if you're up to it. Company Christmas parties may be rather into salty snacks (to go with the booze) & not necessarily desserts! If u want to bake - go for Childrens Birthday parties.

starting a new anything is hard. Take out a cheap ad in the paper. Put up flyers. Drop off business cards around town. Bring a sample with you to class or work then word of mouth will kick in. Good luck

I just saw a thing advertised on cable that u can place an inexpensive add on any channel that u want to, that way its marketed at ur target audience. You may want to call ur local cable company to find out if its in ur price range or not.

What I would do, is I would fix some of my gourmet desserts & give them away at a country club event, or some ritzy thing. Make sure ur name is in clear view at all times. Word of mouth is a free & great way to market yourself. Plus everyone loves free stuff, & once u have people hooked (especially rich people) they will pay any price to soothe their cravings. Dont forget to hand out ur business card & u could have people fill out comment cards, & send really nice flyers to the people that gave their address.

Contact some catering companies and see if they're up for some ready made gourment desserts that you can provide for them.

Take an ad out in your local classifieds or online.

Make up some flyers & take them around to businesses in time for holiday parties.

Go to craigslist.

Post colorful flyers with photo of delicious desert everywhere you can think of. Mrs. Fields did not succeed until she crumbled up cookies for people to taste, free. Give this a twist for your desserts. Include 'taking orders for the holidays' and have people pay up front.

you should have a booth in an arts and crafts/gourmet food bazaar, make sure you market yourself well in your booth too

College campuses are good, but make sure that the college knows what youre doing, because some of them do not let you do it without a permit.

Hand out businesscards, post flyers at bulletin boards around school (in the student union- be sure to check with an administrator if it is okay, first), make desserts for your parties, hand out samples (in a booth), or make a lemonade stand, see if you can get an add in your school newspaper, and really advertise that you will be doing business- especially on halloween, valentines day, christmas, etc.

Do like Martha Stewart did
Get a table
set it up on campus
see how things go
then you will get recognition