That is the smarter way to go.I don't do all that much for other people, but when I do, I usually have a consult with them first. Sit down with them at a computer, look at their site, the code in it, how they're currently performing, etc.
It's free if they don't take me on, but I pad it into the bill later if they do. Helps me figure out
I had one guy that had bought a site and was wondering why it wasn't ranking.
"I keep adding keywords to it, and adding size text at the bottom so it has more keywords in its cloud!"...
*facepalm*
However, the issue we're dealing with here is the case of newbies who ask us something like why we charge $200 per hour while they could get the same thing for $15 per hour from someone other SEO dude.