Great discussion, Dave.  I think it is particularly important to apply your suggestion towards the end.  You neeed a very rapid process to disqualify cliente where there is clearly no possibility of a fit.  Life is too short. :)

Yea, since it was published I've looked at more than a few views. My personal sounds much the same as yours, I am a buotique SEO shop (you know, small business). I really do need to have some way to sort things to be time effective for the paying customers. Prety much mandatory for a small shop or freelencer.

But it is also interesting in the agency setting, from some comments so far, one needs to get to the sales level with these types of questions. I've had larger staff in the past, making them upset in handcuffed situations, can lead to rebellion. lol. So it seems a relevant convo on a few levels I am learning.

Anyway, thanks for the Sphinn and chatter Barry... hope to cyu around Skype more often!

A fair point most other businesses have a qualification process so with something as complex and time consuming as seo its only fair that we start to examine how to do it better. Bigger agencies have complex models based on industry averages, client media spend and clients potential spend.