I've posted this article before and occasionally used the tactic successfully. I'm interested in what my fellow geezer businessmen think:

I've never believed he who speaks first loses.  As the article states: Initial offers better predict final settlement prices than subsequent concessionary behaviors do."  If you are confident in your negotiations then your first offer can define the range in which the negotiations play out.  When it comes to Sugar Dating I always make the first offer, and as often as not it is accepted, I'm happy, and we get busy.  If she counters with something higher, at least I have established my comfort level which helps immensely in agreeing on a final price.  And if she is unwilling to compromise on a price I find unacceptable, I simply say best of luck, give me a call if you change your mind.

In my limited experience with SB's (dozens) they almost never make the first offer. I can only think of one who just blurted it out (and it was reasonable.)

My guess is that they know about the range they are likely to be offered and don't want to come in too high for fear of losing any deal at all, but hoping the guy will offer some huge amount.

my take on this is that it is never who speaks first, but rather who gets to speak last.

Take this old joke as a case in point:

A man meets a woman at a bar, and asks if she would have sex with him for $1 million.   "I'd love to", says the gal.
 The man then asks if she would have sex for $5.   "What do you take me for?", the woman retorts.  "We've established that.", says the man who adds:  "Now we are just quibbling over the price."

"He who speaks first loses" has NOTHING to do with making the first offer. I has everything to do with AFTER making an offer, or more accurately a "closing question" the next person who speaks loses negotiating leverage. When you ask for the sale/deal/pussy after you make an offer STFU and let/make the other person respond first. This is sales 101.

 
As for making the first offer, there are different schools of thought on this matter. Some people like to make a ridiculous first offer in an effort to get the other party to "show their cards" first. Others like yourself like to make an offer more in "good faith" IOW making what they feel is a "fair" offer in the sincere hope the other party will accept and there won't be anymore "negotiating" as both parties are happy.  

 
Personally I like it when there is no negotiation at all where it comes to "allowance" and I have been very lucky that a LOT of my first dates have ended up BCD without the discussion of money beforehand. In my experience if a girl likes you, and of course that includes actually enjoying having sex with you, her "ask" is more likely to be what she "needs" and not the most she thinks she can get. There are a lot of girls who would be thrilled with an extra thousand dollars a month and if they enjoy your company they don't mind seeing you a couple of times a week or even more in return for possibly doubling their monthly income from their part time minimum wage job. OTOH, if they were asked how much money they would want to fuck some random old man, most likely they would say they wouldn't even consider it for less than $500 or even more.

-- Modified on 10/15/2018 12:21:41 PM

But I try to get some good intel first.  
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This usually happens during the M&G if possible. On a few recent occasions I've waited until a second M&G - it's rare but since I've been trying to meet noobs more often, I find that it plays well to be the guy who wants to move slowly at first to (be safe, let her get comfortable, not be the "jerk who just wants to fuck", etc. - pick one or more as appropriate).  
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At some point in the conversation I ask her to let me know her high-level financial position: What's your biggest cash problem right now? Do you have student or credit card debt? What do you need to feel ok each month? Surprisingly, I'll get a ton of info this way and I use it to form my initial offer. If she tells me she's $600 short on rent each month, I'll offer a way to get $600+ a month. If she tells me she is saddled by a huge credit card debt of $10,000 (ok that's not huge to us, but she's 19-23, so...) I'll ask her if she's making more than minimum payments each month (which would mean paying at least $300-$400 a month. And she never is). And so on. From this dialog I can generally get an idea of an offer range that will appear to "solve" her most immediate issues. Again, I focus on what she NEEDS, not on what she wants.  
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This has been generally successful in getting to an offer that she likes and I like. Surprisingly two of the last 3 SB's I added ended up just looking to go BCD and then go away with their allowance, even after I've offered things like spa days or wine tasting trips.  
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But in every case, as the article mentions, once I've stated an offer, I wait.... as long as it takes for her to respond. So far, 66% of the times she's accepted with no further negotiations. In the other cases, she pushed back to get another $50 - $100.  But it's kept me out of having to talk them down from $500-$1000 asks, and I've also stayed away from all the "I'm a princess and I'm worth it" bullshit.  (She's not and she isn't.)
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Life is good.
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The Cat

and I fully agree that before making an opening offer, on ANYTHING, not just pussy, it's very important to have as much information as possible to keep from overbidding for something you could have gotten for a fraction of your offer, it also keeps you from making an offer so insulting the other party believes you are not operating in good faith.

 
I find myself of both sides of this equation all the time in business, I am in a business where valuations can be all over the place and simply saying "make me an offer" on a property I am actively trying to sell is simply not an option. Now if a buyer seeks me out for a property I own, but I don't have up for sale that is a completely different dynamic. The Sugar Bowl is somewhere in between, by the very fact we are on the site it's a given that she wants to "sell" and we want to "buy", but similar to my "real" business, valuations are all over the place and there most certainly is no "book" value, the best you can hope for is some kind of "market rate" but unlike the hooker world, SB's don't post rates and the disparities in "ask" can range from a girl happy to be taken out to a nice dinner every once in a while to women with GPS who honestly expect to make five digits a month from a single SD.

 
I agree with your concept of feeling the girl out to find out what is important to HER, some girls want to be wined and dined, others are happy to simply hop into bed with you in exchange for an agreed upon amount of money, Why try to impress a girl with a five hundred dollar dinner when SHE would rather have a hamburger and $300 in cash?  

 
One other thing I like to factor in where it comes to allowance is how much her earning potential is other than "sugaring" if she is stripper or a bartender/cocktail waitress who can knock down five hundred bucks in tips in a single night she is most likely going to want more than a girl whose only other option is a minimum wage job. I find  that most girls are thrilled to death to double their paycheck by agreeing to see me two to three times a week as long as they actually at least "kind of" enjoy themselves when we are together. A $10-12 hr job only nets about $300 a week for 40 hours worth of work, most of the SB's I know in my area are more than happy to spend only 10-20% of that much time with me to make the same amount of take home money.  OTOH, a girl making more money might be insulted with an offer of even several times that much money.

Agree: Understanding her non-sugar earning potential is also very important to know, or at least have a reasonable estimate.  
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On another related aspect, I've yet to see any POT SB that had some type of line in their profile about wanting an "investor" for their future business dreams actually ask me about that, or when I ask, actually have even a rudimental business plan. Of course, in the few times I've actually discussed their investment desires, they are totally SHOCKED when I ask how much equity in their business they are offering me.  "What do you mean. 'equity'?"  SB's don't really watch Shark Tank... must be on opposite Catfish the TV Show, or The Bachelor…  
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Hey sugar is sugar, but 6-figure+ investments are BUSINESS!  
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Life is good.
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The Cat

We come up with the exact same number, ZERO. lol

 
I have seen a few SB's with a business "dream" so far at least I have yet to meet one with a business "plan"  

 
OTOH, I have met more than a few hookers over the years who not only had a plan, but who executed on it as well.  I still remember a K-Girl that I dated briefly several years ago, she kept telling me she wanted to retire from sucking dick for a living (Ok, she used different terms. lol) and asked me several times if I knew of a small business she could invest in with the $50-100K she could scrape together that would return "only" ten grand a month or so so she could live "modestly" lol

 
I told her what she was looking for was unrealistic, but she had the last laugh. She worked a couple of tours at the legal brothels in NV and banked an extra $50,000 which added to her previous savings gave her enough money to open her own spa. The last I heard she was doing just fine, (and making a LOT more than $10K a month)

 
But back to SB's, no I have only met a very few who have a solid game plan and aren't just winging it on their looks, except of course for the ones actually in college, but most of them are a LONG ways away from even entering the real world, much less with a concrete plan as to what to do when they get there.

http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion-boards/ter-general-12/re-if-you-did-id-open-up-a-school-across-the-street-802725?frmSearch=1#802725
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For all of the higher education opportunities for hookers (JDU, Alyson's Academy, The Fisher School (aka the MrFisher School)) to learn the basics of math, business, personal finance, and so on, I do not recall any subjects in the curricula specifically designed for SBs (or the SDs hanging around outside the schoolyard fence).  With support from DeVos for private for-profit schools, I think it's time to expand the curriculum and bring in more recruits.