The Anatomy of a Highly Successful Business Coaching Proposal

How to Use "Hidden Revenue" Math to Make Your Fees Irrelevant and Close the Gaps. Where 90% of Business Coaching & Consulting Proposals Fail

By: Taylor Treese

Date: 1/16/2026

Part 1:

The Executive Summary (The X-Ray)

The biggest mistake coaches make is starting their proposal with a "Bio" or a "Process." Your client doesn't care about your certifications; they care about their bleeding bottom line.

A Forensic Executive Summary leads with the diagnosis. It uses cold, hard data to show the client the "Performance Chasm" between where they are and where they could be. Using a tool like TIMBUC, we can generate a summary that looks like this:

Case Study: The $438,750 Diagnosis

Client: The Daily Grind Coffee Roasters

Annual Sales: $850K

Total Identified Opportunity: $438,750

($63,750 Recovery + $375,000 Strategic Growth)

The Diagnostic Verdict

Your business is currently suffering from "Growth Friction." While your revenue is strong, your Net Profit of 32.0% trails the high-performance benchmark for your bracket. This gap isn't just a number; it is the "Operational Tax" you are paying every day.

The Two-Pronged Opportunity

• The Benchmark Gap (Recovery): By aligning your Raw Materials and Marketing costs with industry standards, we will reclaim $63,750 in immediate, bottom-line profit.

• The Strategies Gap (Hidden Revenue): Our audit of your 22 Growth Levers indicates that your Transaction Frequency and Lead Conversion are currently stalled. Activating these levers unlocks an estimated $375,000 in new, high-margin revenue already waiting in your business.

The "Coaching Alpha" (The Velocity of Success)

• The Organic Path: Based on current efficiency, you are 7.5 years away from your valuation goal.

• The Forensic Path: By closing the $63k gap to fund the $375k strategy activation, we compress that timeline to 18 months.

• The Verdict: We are buying back 6 years of your life.

Part 2:

The 22 Growth Levers (The Anatomy of the Strategies Gap)

Once the X-ray (the Executive Summary) has identified that a business is "leaking," the client’s next question is always: "Where is that $375,000 actually coming from?"

As a Forensic Coach, you don't answer with a vague "better marketing." You answer with the 22 Growth Levers.

The Science of Marginal Gains

The "Strategies Gap" is rarely one massive mistake. Instead, it is the result of 22 small, unoptimized points across the business journey. TIMBUC audits these levers across four

Surgical Zones:

1. Lead Generation (The Fuel): We look beyond lead volume to audit Lead Quality and Referral Systems.

2. Conversion (The Engine): This is often the largest "Hidden Revenue" find. A 2% increase in sales conversion requires zero extra ad spend but can result in a six-figure bottom-line jump.

3. Transaction Value (The Output): We audit Pricing Power, Upselling, and Cross-selling. Small adjustments here capitalize on the customers the business already has.

4. Retention & Frequency (The Momentum): How often do customers return? Increasing Purchase Frequency by 10% is significantly more profitable than finding new customers.

Finding the "Hidden Revenue"

In our case study of The Daily Grind Coffee Roasters, we identified a $375,000 Strategies Gap. Here is how that math actually works for a Forensic Coach:

We don't try to double the business overnight. We look for The Power of 1%. By identifying the 5-7 "Stalled Levers" that are currently underperforming—such as a low Lead Conversion or an unoptimized Average Transaction Value—and improving them by just 1% to 5% each, the gains compound.

The Forensic Narrative: "Mr. Client, we found $375,000 not by reinventing your company, but by identifying that your 'Engine' is misfiring in 7 specific areas. By tuning these levers in the correct order, we turn that missed opportunity into realized cash flow."

Part 3:

The Velocity Chart (Selling the Value of Time)

The final "Surgical" piece of the Forensic Proposal is the Velocity Chart. Most business owners suffer from "The Myth of Someday." They believe that if they just keep working 60 hours a week, they will eventually hit their financial goals. As a Forensic Coach, your job is to show them the Actual Velocity of their current path versus the Accelerated Velocity of a coached path.

The "Coaching Alpha": Why Speed is a Financial Metric

In the case of The Daily Grind Coffee Roasters, the owner wanted to reach a $1.5M valuation for retirement. The TIMBUC Assessment doesn't just guess at the timeline; it uses their historical data to calculate two distinct futures:

• The Organic Path (The 7.5-Year Grind): Based on their current efficiency and growth rate, they are over seven years away from their goal. This is 90 more months of stress, payroll headaches, and operational friction.

• The Forensic Path (The 18-Month Sprint): By closing the $63,750 Benchmark Gap and capturing the $375,000 Strategies Gap, the business hits the same valuation in just a year and a half.

Quantifying the "Cost of Inaction"

The power of this section in your proposal lies in the Opportunity Cost. When you show a prospect, they can save six years of their life; you have shifted the conversation from "How much do you cost?" to "How much is six years of my life worth?"

In our coffee roaster example, the math is staggering:

• The Revenue Lost to Time: If they take 7.5 years to reach the goal instead of 18 months, they are effectively "forfeiting" millions of dollars in potential revenue over that 6-year delay.

• The Personal Cost: Six years of missed vacations, family time, and mental health.

The Forensic Narrative: "Mr. Client, you can do this yourself. But the data shows it will take you 7.5 years to get where you want to go. My job is to give you those 6 years back. If I can get you to your goal in 18 months, what is that saved time worth to your family and your future?"

Part 4:

The Surgical Schedule (The Implementation Timeline)

The most common question a client asks after seeing the "Hidden Revenue" is: "How long is this going to take?" As a Forensic Coach, you don't give a vague answer like "as long as it takes." You provide a Surgical Schedule. This breaks the engagement down into logical phases that align with the math you’ve already presented. By defining the timeline, you transform a "forever" commitment into a results-driven project with a clear finish line.

The 18-Month Recovery Roadmap

• Phase 1: Hemorrhage Control (Months 1-3): We focus exclusively on the Benchmark Gap ($63,750). These are the immediate "leaks" in the business. Our goal is to find your coaching fee in the first 90 days.

• Phase 2: Lever Calibration (Months 4-12): We methodically tune the 22 Growth Levers. This is where we capture the $375,000 Strategies Gap by improving conversion, frequency, and pricing power.

• Phase 3: Exit/Scale Readiness (Months 13-18): We shift from "fixing" to "fast-tracking." We optimize the business for the Velocity Path, ensuring the owner hits the valuation goal and "buys back" those six years of life.

  
  

  The Forensic Narrative: "Mr. Client, we aren't going to try to do everything at once. We are going to stop the bleeding first, then tune the engine, and finally hit the accelerator. This 18-month roadmap is the fastest route to your 7-year goal."

Part 5:

The Forensic Investment (The Self-Funding Conclusion)

The most stressful moment for any coach is presenting the price. But for the Forensic Coach, this is the easiest part of the presentation. Why? Because by the time you reach the "Investment" page, you’ve already found the money to pay for your services ten times over.

The Math of the "Success Tax"

In a traditional proposal, the price is a hurdle. In a Forensic Proposal, the price is a small "success tax" on the new wealth you are creating. Let’s look at the final tally for The Daily Grind Coffee Roasters:

Financial Metric	Annual Value
Total Identified Opportunity	$438,750
Forensic Coaching Investment	$42,000
Net Client Gain (After Fees)	$396,750
Projected ROI	1,044%

The "Self-Funding" Narrative

This is how you teach your readers to frame the close. You don't ask for a check; you offer a trade.

"Mr. Client, my fee for this 18-month operation is $3,500 a month. But remember, we’ve already identified $5,300 a month in 'leaks' (the Benchmark Gap). That means even before we grow the business by a single dollar, you are already 'net-positive' by $1,800 every month just by stopping the waste. My service doesn't cost your business a dime—it pays for itself out of the inefficiencies we’ve already found."

Why the Forensic Approach Wins

A "Conversational" proposal relies on the client liking you. A Forensic Proposal relies on the client liking math. By using the TIMBUC Platform and its framework, you have:

1. Lead with a Diagnosis (The Executive Summary).

2. Isolated the Problems (The 22 Levers).

3. Quantified the Speed (The Velocity Chart).

4. Eliminated the Risk (The Self-Funding Fee).

Conclusion: Become the Surgeon

The business coaching market is crowded with "personal trainers" offering accountability and a friendly ear. But the market is starving for "surgeons," experts who can walk into a business, find the internal bleeding, and provide a data-backed roadmap to recovery.

If you want to command higher fees and work with higher-level clients, stop proposing "coaching" and start proposing "Forensic Outcomes." When you show a client their own X-ray, they don't ask for a discount; they ask when you can start the operation.