Firstly, there is definitely a learning curve process to this SB game and every potential SD out there should really develop their own strategy based on their own social status, income (economics), appearances, marital status, demographics and their "designated" allowance level. Reading a lot about it and getting tips from other seasoned SDs will give you some great (and bad) ideas as to how tailer your own strategy based on the above stated matrix (and metrics) and navigate around Sugar Bowl which can indeed become treacherous for the inexperienced and the faint of heart!
Poster Z seems to live in or near a college town somewhere in the Midwest. This is geographic goldmine primarily for two reasons:
1- the supply side is going to work in your benefit if seeking a Co-Ed
2- economically speaking, you will probably yield more "bang" for you $
Both of the above become a lot more challenging when the geographic tables are tilted in favor of the supply side at the expense of the demand side. That said, I approve of and condone the strategy of making a nominal offer for the first meet, without ANY strings attached. In my own experience, the most successful meets were either a late morning coffee meeting or an early lunch meeting. My max offer for coffee was $50 and $100 for lunch. I usually engineered the coffee meetings toward those who I was not terribly interested in. I did not always lay out 50 for the coffee meetings, but perhaps over 50% of the time I offered something. Call it an insurance policy if you will. When I f*cked up the most was when I geared the first meeting to be a dinner "date" and spent the most $. That strategy often attracted the sorts who were either too desperate financially to latch onto something, or just brought out the quasi-pros and the UTR girls (because they rather "work" during the day!) Happy Hour can also be a compromise for those who can not do mid morning coffee and do not have an SO to worry about happy hour meets.
Now, I had a unique and clever way of approaching potential prospects in the first email (this is very, very important, i.e, how you take the time to hone your pitch) which yielded me an otherwise improbably high success rate, if for instance I was on a traditional dating site such as Match or OK Cupid. You must become a lot more original in your 1st approach than just referring them to your profile. The potential SB profiles are a messy maze of fakes, fence-sitters, time-wasters, pros, semi-pros, charlatans, ROBs, etc... From my own personal experience, almost every single time when I was approached by a POT SB and I let things develop into a meeting and beyond, it happened to become a total waste of time proposition. Those are often the types who are in a grave financial situation and need to enter into an "arrangement" as soon as yesterday!
My best success rate was when I kept the first meeting brief, fun and void of discussing any particular arrangement. I always broached that subject during the 2nd meeting, if it ever got to that point. A POT SB may indeed want to know about your offer in the very first meeting, so be prepared to lay your offer on the table there and then if you are interested in that POT SB, but from experience again, those were the types who were already actively engaged in the sugar game with a few other SDs.
One difference in methodology between Z and I seems to be that I always chose the meeting venue, after I got a feel for her geographical proximity and how far she was willing to drive. It worked best for me because it put me in a position of authority right away. To let her choose the location based on her comfort level is fine, but just not for me. Call it a home court advantage if you will!
