So why is it so challenging for these professionals to find clients? I work with coaches all the time, and a large chunk of their time and energies is spent looking for individuals who

• Need their help
• Understand the value that they bring to the table
• Are willing to pay for their services

If I didn’t know better, I’d say these coaches were hacks who don’t know their stuff. After all, if you have an irresistible offer, you shouldn’t struggle to find customers.

Right? 

Wrong.

Acquiring new clients has always been a bit of a pickle for many coaches. But certain factors have made it even harder in recent times. 

In this blog, I’ll discuss the top three based on conversations I’ve had with coaches across numerous industries. 

By the end, I’ll also share simple but effective copywriting strategies you can use to circumvent the challenging factors and build your client list.

Top challenges

1. The market is flooded with new coaches

Who is a coach? 

Is it someone who uses their years of experience to guide people in a specific field? Or is it someone who enrolled in a coaching program, got a certificate, and changed their LinkedIn bio?

The answer is both, and that’s part of the problem.

Coaches who bring real value to the table find it harder to differentiate themselves and stand out. On a level, this almost doubles the difficulty of landing clients because you need to rethink the way you sell yourself and your experience. 

After all, how will people recognize your value if you can’t sell your expertise?

To be sure, new coaches aren’t second-grade in any way. In fact, some of the most insightful and supportive coaches I know are people who recently launched their businesses.

My point here is that differentiation is tough. You are now competing (and I use this phrase very loosely) with dozens of individuals who, on the surface, offer the same services as you do.

Without a unique strategy to break through the clutter and differentiate yourself, how will your ideal client tell you apart from other coaches?

2. Inflation has shrunk budgets

Gas prices are skyrocketing worldwide; supply chains are breaking down, and the costs of essential supplies keep finding new highs.

The result? 

Individuals and businesses are wary of how they spend. They need to know for certain that every dime spent on a service will produce a quantifiable improvement in one or more areas of their lives.

As a coach, that’s not a problem for you. You know what you offer and the results your clients can expect. But do they know that?

Because regardless of how helpful your coaching is, if your ideal clients don’t understand that, they won’t hire you. 

In the past, it was easier to communicate value. Heck, people sought out coaches because they knew what they didn’t know, and they understood that a coach could help them out.

But these days, businesses are struggling to stay open and business owners have to make tough decisions. The question on everyone’s minds suddenly becomes, will paying someone REALLY help me achieve this result?

3. There is more online clutter than ever

Ad blindness, a term that explains how we unconsciously ignore ads without receiving their message, affects all businesses.

We are bombarded with all kinds of messages daily, and tuning them out is the easiest way to cope. 

But you know, ad blindness doesn’t just apply to adverts in the traditional sense. Think about it; when was the last time you engaged with a post where someone was promoting their services? 

Friends and family don’t count.

The moment we see a message that remotely involves selling, we tend to ignore it unconsciously.

What does this have to do with landing coaching clients? 

Well, you as a coach also happen to be on the other side of this ad blindness. You need to promote your services, and unfortunately, people are likely to ignore your message unconsciously.

Unless you find a way to break through the clutter and share a captivating story/message, people will most likely ignore what you have to say.

Good news; Building trust still works

One way to circumvent all of these problems is a strategy that successful coaches have used for decades – building trust first.

If you already employ a relationship-led client acquisition strategy, this is good news for you. 

In the next section, I’ll suggest how you can make a few simple tweaks to your content strategy to attract better leads and communicate your value clearly, despite the road blocks I just described.

Switch from announcing what you do to starting conversations

If your social media posting strategy is to keep reminding people what you do and asking them to reach out to you, then you must have discovered one thing by now – that doesn’t work.

Ad blindness pretty much makes you invisible to your target audience. But you know what still works? Conversations.

In fact, all platforms, from Facebook to LinkedIn thrive on engagements. The more you ask thought-provoking questions that demand a response, the higher the number of people who’ll find your posts.

So, it’s time to switch from, “I’m a career coach who can help you succeed” to “Here are five myths about working with a career coach.”

Work your experience and specialization into your online presence

If you find yourself operating in a crowded speciality, a good idea is to contextualize your messages by sharing your experience. That way, you communicate what you bring to the table.

A great example is your LinkedIn bio. Instead of “executive coach,” you’ll find better results with something like, “I help business leaders break into the C-suite.” 

Another awesome approach is to share tips based on your experience. Think, “top five lessons I learned after 10 years of being a lifestyle coach.”

Share success stories that highlight the direct value of your coaching

People want proof that your coaching will lead to a quantifiable improvement in their lives. While you may not have the figures of a marketing consultant, what you have is (hopefully) a list of clients who have found success thanks to your input.

Did they switch careers, grow their revenue or even sleep better? 

Any improvements that your past clients made is proof that your coaching works. You already know it works, and your current clients know it too. You just need to share that information with your prospects.

The bottom line

Business owners have always had to adapt to the times, tweak their approach, and rethink their strategies; this is another one of those periods.

And the information from this blog may be just what you need to get started.

The post Why is it tougher to land coaching clients in 2022? first appeared on Freelance Matthew.

That’s when I realized that there are so many subtle differences between the various brands of energy drinks. I then went down a rabbit hole that culminated in me writing this post.

Here are the questions I wanted to answer: If they have all these ingredients, what exactly does an energy drink do to your body (I wasn’t satisfied with “give you energy”)? Which ingredients are harmful? How much should you drink?

After reading this blog post, you too will know the answer to these questions, and maybe lecture the cashier at the grocery store on why they should develop a system for sorting the drinks.

Caffeine 

Caffeine, the primary ingredient in most energy drinks, interacts with your body in multiple ways. You’re probably familiar with it already, as most people enjoy a daily dose in their cup of coffee. But what exactly does caffeine do after it enters your bloodstream??

Stimulates CNS activity

Caffeine is a stimulant and it primarily increases the activity in your Central Nervous System (CNS.) That’s why you feel ready to tackle the day after a cup of coffee. Caffeine also increases the production of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline in the body.

Cortisol increases your body’s stress tolerance. Adrenaline, on the other hand, prepares your body for exertion by increasing blood pressure and breathing rate. 

In essence, taking caffeine makes you more alert, responsive, and focused. 

Blocks adenosine receptors

Caffeine also works by blocking adenosine receptors in your brain. These help your body slow down. They are largely responsible for the tired lag most people feel in the afternoons. These receptors slow down the heart rate, blood pressure, and even muscle action.

Caffeine is the life of the party. It wants to speed things up, and so, it blocks these receptors. This is why you suddenly feel energetic after drinking a can of Monster Energy. Caffeine is also why most people take decaf coffee at night.

How much caffeine is in energy drinks?

The average energy drink has about 32 mg of caffeine per 100 ml. To put that in perspective, an average cup of coffee has 95 mg of caffeine. So a can of Monster Energy (450 ml per can) gives you about 128 mg of caffeine. Brands like Red Bull sell smaller cans (250 ml) so the caffeine dose is only about 80 mg.

Caffeine Informer has an exhaustive database of energy drinks and their caffeine content.

Sugar

Sugar is a form of carbohydrates, and it’s broken down into glucose that your muscles use to function. When you feel tired, there’s low glucose in your bloodstream. Energy drinks introduce enough glucose to jumpstart your system and get you moving again.

The amount of glucose in a drink is often measured in KiloJoules. Monster Energy delivers 201 KiloJoules (KJ) of energy per 100 ml. Most energy drinks contain between 195 and 250 KJ per 100 ml. The higher the KJ, the more energy you’ll get. 

Taurine

Have you ever noticed that most energy drinks have a similar taste? You have taurine to thank for that. It is an organic compound with a strong acidic taste that pretty much overpowers most other ingredients in the drink.

But don’t worry, it’s good for you. Some studies have shown that Taurine increases mental and athletic performance. It has also been linked to improved athletic performance. 

What’s interesting is that the compound is present in common foods like milk, eggs, and fish. However, these contain a small amount of Taurine (about 50 mg), which is tiny compared to the 1000 mg often included in energy drinks.  

Taurine is well tolerated by most people and has been tested as a treatment for congestive heart failure and hepatitis. 

B Vitamins

Look at the label of any energy drink and you’ll most likely find B vitamins among the list of ingredients. But are the quantities sufficient to do anything? We’ll get into that a little later.

There are generally three types of B vitamins included in energy drinks – Niacin (vitamin B3), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), and Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)

Niacin

Niacin is an important part of energy production in the body. It converts carbohydrates into usable energy. It can also open up capillaries and increase blood flow near the skin.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is critical to amino acid production and photosynthesis. Basically, it’s impossible to build or repair muscle without Vitamin B6. It also increases the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity and improves immune system health.

Vitamin B12

This vitamin is important in the development of new red blood cells and nerve cells.

Here’s something that really bugs me. While most brands claim to have B Vitamins, the quantities are abysmal. For example, Monster energy contains 11 micrograms of Vitamin B12 per can (183% of the daily recommended amount), an impressive amount. 

A lesser-known energy drink called fearless, on the other hand, only contains 1.5 micrograms per can. Basically, the ingredient is only there for show.

As we’ve seen, caffeine, sugar, and Taurine are sufficient to give you the kick you’re looking for so it’s not like these other drinks are ineffective. They just use the ingredients to give the appearance of more value. 

Ginseng

Ginseng improves stamina, memory, and concentration. Some studies have also linked it to improved immune function and reduced aging. Ginseng is classified as a nootropic (Brain boosting drug) which is why it’s often sold as a stand-alone supplement.

Only a few energy drinks contain Ginseng. One of them, Monster Energy, contains about 82 mg per 100ml, or 369 mg per can. 

All energy drinks aren’t made the same

At this point, you’re getting an idea of why energy drinks prices are so variable. One of the biggest reasons is that they don’t all have the same ingredients. Take Ginseng for example. Most drinks don’t contain it, which is why the ones that do plaster it in front of the can’s branding and drive up their prices. 

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they contain sufficient quantities either.

Even though the evidence is questionable, WebMD suggests you may need up to 3 grams of Ginseng daily for 8 weeks for any appreciable results. So how many cans of Monster Energy is that? I’ll let you do the math.

Many brands rely on marketing to push energy drinks that are basically sugar and caffeine. Other ingredients like B vitamins, Taurine, and Ginseng are present in negligible amounts. Unfortunately, most people don’t notice since caffeine provides a big enough kick.

Key takeaway

I love energy drinks because they can give you an extra boost of energy when you need it most. But are you overpaying for basically the same drink with a different label? 

Hopefully, you’ve learned enough in this article to answer this question and make the most economically savvy purchase possible. If you need more information on energy drinks and caffeine, visit Caffeine Informer

Read: Are you feeling lazy or just burnt out?

The post Which energy drinks are actually overpriced? first appeared on Freelance Matthew.