When I was taking clients, I used to tell them up front that I do not start until I feel I have all the information I need and that we’ll start with 20 questions, but there may be more after those. It tended to eliminate the kind of people who I can’t work with quite well.

Another great eliminator is to provide a simple request like telling them what to use as the subject line. If they can’t get that right, I’m not interested. It weeds out most of the worst real quick.

That said, one of my best clients followed no instructions, and still was one of the best clients ever. I followed a hunch. lol