A revenue leak diagnostic · for Australian owner-operators

There's a leak in your business.Let's find it.

You're flat out. The work's good. So why doesn't the bank balance show it? It's rarely one big problem — it's usually the same five small leaks, quietly draining money, leads and trust. In 90 minutes I'll find exactly where, and hand you a one-page plan to plug them.

Find the leak or it's free. 90 minutes together A one-page fix plan
Where the money goes

It's nearly always the same five taps.

Most owners assume it's one big thing. It almost never is. The money leaks out in five small places — and because each one looks minor on its own, none of them ever gets fixed.

↓  Enquiries, quotes and good work go in
I.

Slow replies

The lead rings or emails. You'll get to it tomorrow. By tomorrow they've already called someone who picked up. Speed is the cheapest advantage you have, and it's leaking.

Leaks the warm, easy sales you'd already half-won
II.

The wrong leads

You chase everything that moves and pour hours into people who were never going to buy — instead of the few who were ready to.

Leaks time, focus and your best hours
III.

The discount reflex

"Is that your best price?" — and you fold, because the value was never made obvious enough to hold the line. A little off, on every single job.

Leaks margin, quietly, on everything you sell
IV.

A flat pitch

You describe what you do. You never quite make them feel why you're worth more than the cheaper option down the road. So they decide on price.

Leaks the premium you've earned but don't charge
V.

No follow-up

The quote goes out. Then silence. No nudge, no second look. The deal that was one phone call away just goes cold and quietly disappears.

Leaks the jobs that were a single call from closing
↓  And what's left over is thinner than it should be

Five small taps. Left open, they drain more than any one big problem ever would.

The picture

What happens to every $100,000 of work you could have won.

EVERY $100,000 OF QUOTED WORK $100k flows in WHAT'S LEFT $35k banks I. Slow replies −$18k II. Wrong leads −$12k III. The discount reflex −$9k IV. A flat pitch −$15k V. No follow-up −$11k Five small taps. $65,000 of every $100,000 — gone before it reaches the bank.

The split is illustrative — every business leaks differently. Finding your numbers is precisely what the diagnostic is for.

The real problem

Your business may not be broken. The value may be leaking.

You're not lazy or bad at this. You're just too close to it to see the gap between what you think you're saying — and what the customer actually hears.

That gap is where the discounting, the silence and the lost margin all come from. Close it, and most of the leaks close with it.

What you think you're saying
"We do premium, careful, genuinely better work."
the gap — where the money leaks
What the customer actually hears
"Looks like everyone else — so I'll just compare on price."

It costs $495 to find the leak. Plug even one, lift the business 10% — now imagine the year's profit.

Which makes the only real question whether you'd rather keep guessing — or know exactly where it's going.

The bit nobody else does

With your consent — and complete discretion — I ring your customers: the ones you won, a few you lost, and ask them why.

You will hear things about your business you have never heard before. Why one buyer chose you and happily paid more. Why another went quiet and bought elsewhere.

I call as a neutral third party, so it's comfortable for them and honest for you — customers tell an outsider things they'd never say to your face. It's often where the biggest leak shows itself.

Chris Edmund Dawson, founder of The Leak — business diagnostic consultant, Melbourne
Who's asking the questions

You're not hiring a consultant. You're borrowing another owner's eyes.

What you get is an experienced business owner, general manager and sales & marketing specialist working on your business — not a junior with a framework.

I spent 11 years as the owner-operator of an Australian manufacturer of hydrotherapy baths — products that cost serious money and get bought slowly, carefully, and only when the buyer trusts you. Around that sit another 15 years in sales and marketing strategy and project management, turning what buyers say into what businesses do.

Which means I've spent years doing exactly what you do: quoting, chasing, holding a price while someone asks if that's my best one, and watching good enquiries go quiet for reasons nobody would tell me. Every one of the five leaks on this page, I've paid for personally.

That's why the diagnostic works the way it does. I'm not reading your business from a textbook — I'm looking at it the way another owner does, with the phone calls a consultant won't make and the questions an employee can't ask.

Chris Edmund DawsonFounder, The Leak · Melbourne
From people I've worked with

Don't take my word for it.

“Chris reviewed our client interactions and customer feedback — and our renewals changed within the month.”

Bod Squad Fitness logo
Naomi MillerOwner, Bod Squad Fitness

“He found gaps in our sales process we'd walked past for years — and the first fix landed us a major client within the month.”

FM Essentials — Consulting, Services, Software logo
Bruce ChaplinOwner, FM Essentials
How it works

Four steps to your fix plan.

1

Initial discovery

You book in and answer a few short questions, so I arrive already understanding your business, your customers and what's frustrating you.

2

The 90-minute deep dive

We open the bonnet together — how you win work, what you charge, what happens after a quote goes out. Direct, practical, no fluff.

3

Customer satisfaction analysis

With your consent, I ring a handful of customers you won — and a few you lost — and analyse exactly why they bought, or didn't.

4

Leak map + fix plan

One page: where it's leaking, what it's costing, what to fix first. Yours to run with — or, if it's a fit, we talk about a 30-day fix sprint.

What it costs

One session. One page. One fee.

The Leak — a 90-minute revenue diagnostic

Everything that's included

A practical session for owner-operators who are busy but know something isn't adding up. I find where the money, leads and trust are draining out — and hand you a plain plan to plug it.

  • A 90-minute diagnostic session, the two of us
  • A few short questions beforehand, so we don't waste the time
  • A review of your message, pricing, quotes and follow-up
  • Your customer discovery calls
  • A leak map — where it's going and what it's costing
  • A one-page fix plan, prioritised and costed
Founding rate · first 5 clients
$495
Normally $1,495 — founding price while I build the first case studies

$495 to find it. About what one leak costs you in a week.

Find the leak

Find the leak or it's free. Not feeling the value? Say so before the fix plan is sent and you get 100% back — no questions asked.

The honest cut

This isn't for everyone. Here's the straight version.

Worth your time if…

  • You're an owner-operator doing roughly $500k–$5M
  • You're a service business, trade, professional firm or B2B supplier
  • You're busy and the work's good, but the profit doesn't match the effort
  • You'd rather hear the truth than be flattered

Probably not, if…

  • You're pre-revenue or just getting started
  • You want a motivational coach, not a straight diagnosis
  • You're after a cheap stack of social posts
  • You're certain everything's fine and it's all just the economy
Straight answers

Before you book.

Is this just a marketing audit?

No. Marketing's part of it, but a leak can be anywhere — your pricing, your follow-up, the way you pitch, who you chase. I look at the whole path the money takes, not one slice of it.

Is this business coaching?

No. There's no mindset talk and no homework journal. It's a straight diagnosis of where you're losing money, and a plan to stop it.

Do I need all my numbers ready?

Useful numbers help — revenue, rough margins, how many quotes turn into jobs — but we can get a long way even if your numbers are messy. Bring what you've got.

What if I already know what's wrong?

Good — then we test whether that's the real leak or just the most obvious symptom. More often than not, the thing draining the most money isn't the thing the owner was worried about.

Will you fix it for me too?

The session gives you the plan, and plenty of owners run with it themselves. If you'd rather I help plug the leaks, we can talk about a 30-day fix sprint after — no pressure either way.

How does "find the leak or it's free" actually work?

Simple: if you don't feel you've had the value, just say so before I send the completed fix plan — and you'll get 100% back, no questions asked. The risk sits with me, not you.

What if I'm under $500k, or over $5M?

Under $500k it can still help, but the work's often more about building the offer than finding leaks. Over $5M it still applies — there's just more to look at, so we'd scope something bigger.

Do you work outside Melbourne?

Yes. I'm Melbourne-based, but the diagnostic runs over video just as well as in person — I work with owner-operators Australia-wide.

Is this the same as a business health check?

Close cousin, sharper tool. A business health check tells you how the business is doing across the board. The Leak goes after one question — where is the money going? — and hands you a costed, prioritised plan to stop it. If you've been looking for a business health check, this is that, with teeth.

Book the diagnostic

Stop guessing where the money goes.

Tell me a little about the business and I'll be in touch to find a time.

90 minutes + a one-page fix plan · $495 AUD · Find the leak or it's free.

P.S.If you don't feel you've had the value, you get every cent back before the fix plan is even sent — so the risk of looking is zero. The only thing guessing costs you is the money quietly going out the door while you do. Worth 90 minutes to find out where?