Coaching proposal template

What's in the template.

Every section below exists to answer a question your client is silently asking. Use the example copy as a starting point and replace the specifics.

1. 1

   What you told me you want to change

   Reflect their goal back in their own language. Being heard accurately is the strongest signal a coach can send in a document.

   “You've been promoted twice in eighteen months and now lead people who were your peers. You said the hardest part isn't the work — it's that you're avoiding two conversations you know you need to have, and you've started dreading Mondays. In six months you want to walk into your leadership team meeting without rehearsing it in the car.”

2. 2

   How we'd work together

   Structure and cadence, concretely. Duration, frequency, format, and length remove the vagueness that stops people committing.

   “Six months, fortnightly 60-minute sessions by video — twelve sessions total. Sessions are yours to direct; I'll bring structure when it helps and get out of the way when it doesn't. We'll set three working goals in session one and revisit them at sessions six and twelve, adjusting rather than pretending the original framing was perfect.”

3. 3

   What's included between sessions

   Between-session access is what clients value most and proposals mention least. Name it precisely so it's both a selling point and a boundary.

   “Included: a short written summary from me within 24 hours of each session, unlimited email or voice-note support with a reply inside one business day, and one 15-minute emergency call per month for the conversation you need to have tomorrow morning. Not included: same-day availability outside those calls — I'd rather promise something I can reliably keep.”

4. 4

   What coaching is and isn't

   Set expectations honestly. Naming the limits of coaching builds more trust than a page of testimonials, and it's the ethical thing to do.

   “Coaching is a thinking partnership: I ask questions, offer frameworks and observations, and hold you to what you said you'd do. It isn't therapy, and it isn't consulting — I won't diagnose, and I won't tell you what your business should do. If something surfaces that belongs with a therapist, I'll say so and help you find one. The work between sessions is yours; my part is useless without it.”

5. 5

   Confidentiality

   State it plainly, including the sponsor situation if a company is paying. Ambiguity here undermines the whole engagement.

   “Everything you say stays between us. Where your employer is funding this, they receive confirmation of attendance and nothing else — no themes, no summaries, no progress notes — and I'll tell you before any conversation with them happens. The only exceptions are the standard legal ones involving risk of serious harm.”

6. 6

   Investment and commitment

   Package the engagement rather than selling sessions individually, and name the cancellation terms in the same breath.

   “Six-month engagement (12 sessions): $6,600, payable monthly at $1,100 or $6,000 paid upfront. Sessions rescheduled with 24 hours' notice move freely; later than that, or a no-show, uses the session. If it isn't working after three sessions, tell me and we'll stop — you pay only for what we've used.”

7. 7

   Next step + signature

   Reduce the first step to booking one session. Coaching decisions are emotional; make starting feel light.

   “Sign below and we'll book session one this week, plus a short intake questionnaire to send back beforehand. Nothing is locked in beyond the first three sessions — you'll know by then whether this is working.”