Story highlights Trump's policies are so far skeletal, leaving an opening to shape their translation into legislation

The Trump inner circle has less connections to lobbyists than many White House staffs in the past

Washington (CNN) Washington lobbyists see a big opportunity to shape the incoming Trump administration -- if they can find a way in.

President-elect Donald Trump's transition period has left the capital's lobbying class under the firm impression that the new White House will be particularly open to influence from the outside.

Trump had an unusually thin policy operation during his campaign, and has been working furiously to build out his transition team since the election, stocking it with experts and insiders from around DC. His policy positions throughout the campaign were mostly skeletal and prone to shifts, providing an opening for lobbyists and industries to have a say in the development of concrete proposals.

"It's a blank slate, and that's definitely an opportunity you don't see very often," said one lobbyist who met with transition staff early in the process and requested anonymity to preserve relationships.

But there are big challenges. Many lobbying shops staffed up with Democrats or those who signed anti-Trump letters on the assumption that Trump would lose the election. And when Vice President-elect Mike Pence took over as the chairman of the transition, he required lobbyists to either leave or terminate their clients on the topic they were working on.