Hi Kim,
My apologies as I think I was not very clear - I absolutely agree that the reason we as painters get hired is because people like our work. In my experience, though, I get many potentials who don't really know about what's out there to be had, and are trying to recover from sticker shock ( I should preface this to say maybe this is more suitable for the business section, as I don't make appointments to see potentials unless they already know my prices. That doesn't mean they're not still shocked
)
To this end I keep a comparative market portfolio primarily for the purpose of pricing education. Unless the average client has actually done any portrait shopping, there's no reason that they would know what portraits cost. So I show them a variety of styles and prices. I encourage them to do research. I want to show them that they are getting good value with me. In the course of this, yes, they will see many other artists' styles.
I suppose all of this would fit under the category of "Pre-qualifying a Client".
I also think you are 100% right, no amount of sales pitch can make someone like a style they aren't attracted to...