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I have seen a few posts comparing game to sales, which there is a lot of truth to. Here is a portrait of the worst kind of salesperson.
So, this person is selling something like insurance and so he calls up all his friends and acquaintances and says he would like to meet with them about insurance, which a few of them do. He goes and talks to them and makes some proposals that he mails or drops off. Every so often his friends hear from this guy, wondering if they have "had a chance to look over the proposal." A couple of people buy from him, but mostly his friends stop talking to him because he hasn't really finished his business with them, so he keeps coming back. Eventually his friends stop answering his calls. Not making any money and no friends, a total AFC!
Compare this to the professional salesperson. Calls up his friends, can I show you some insurance? Sure, some of them say. Proposal? Sure, some of them say. He presents the proposal -- in person! -- and says, "is this something you can do right now?" If the person says, "No," he says, "No problem, call me if you need anything." And he never mentions insurance again. Makes a ton of money and keeps his friends.
And what is the difference between the two? Approach Anxiety. Yes, AA, pure and simple.
I did leave out a small detail that explains the success of the second guy and this may seem counter intuitive at first, but he has ALOT more people say "No" to him. Tons more! but every time someone says "no" he says the same sort of thing, "Hey, no problem, if you ever have any insurance questions feel free to call me. Oh and by the way, do you know anyone I might call to chat with?"
So what does all this have to do with AA?
Because the first guy has AA he only calls his friends and he starts out OK, but then he is afraid to close with them. He would rather have a list of "potential customers" (people who have not yet said, "no.") than a few yeses and a bunch of nos. So his circle keeps getting smaller and smaller. AFCville.
The second guy has controlled/conquered his AA. EVERYONE is a potential customer. He doesn't want or need anyone in limbo. If you tell him "no," it doesn't both him a bit, he just calls all your friends. And when people tell him "no" he doesn't get hurt or offended or keep calling them to change their minds, just moves on. No AA means a nearly infinite customer pool.
His lack of AA makes him a cool guy instead of a pain in the ass. He doesn't call you again when you tell him "no" because he is plenty busy with new people. And when you need insurance, you call him because he was cool about the whole thing and didn't bust your chops.
And this is how we have to be. Approach everyone, but know when to back off. If she doesn't want to talk to you -- no big deal, just move on the next one. This is really what makes a PUA, approaching everyone and then being able to read when you are not wanted and going on gracefully to the next approach.
But first you have to overcome AA! If you don't you will be the worst salesman ever!
I sort of agree with moving on from a rejection gracefully and not being too worried about it. And I sort of agree with the AA principals you're discussing. However, the line in bold above, I disagree with.
To continue with your own analogy, you seem to be missing two fundamental points - firstly how good the product is, and secondly the techniques a salesman uses to improve the chances of making a sale.
When you're approaching a girl, to some extent it is about the numbers. It is about taking the rejection on the chin, and moving on to the next 'customer'. However, that is not "really what makes a PUA", in my opinion. There are two things that really make a PUA in my opinion.
Firstly, and most importantly, having a "good product". It's a lot easier to sell an iphone nowadays than it is some piece of shit old thing at the same price. In pick up terms, this means having your life in order. It means caring about your appearance and looking the best you can be. It means having a good social life, being happy with your life and content and confident.
Secondly, you need to be able to sell the product using good sales techniques. You need to be able to build rapport with the customer and make the customer feel comfortable, make the customer feel like a respected and special customer. In pick up terms, you need to do basically all of that but replace 'customer' with 'woman'. So you need to build rapport with the woman, make her feel comfortable, make her feel special. Also, one of the most important techniques a salesman can learn is how to seal the deal. It's fine getting someone interested but you then need to know how to get them to hand over their money. Likewise with a woman, it's fine building an initial attraction, but you then need to know the techniques to get her number, or get her home with you.
So, whilst I certainly agree that not worrying too much and moving on from rejection gracefully is important, I disagree that what really makes a PUA is essentially playing a numbers game, as you seem to be suggesting. It's not all about approaching as many girls as possible, and moving on gracefully when you get rejected. It's also about improving the product (yourself) so that it's the most sellable it can be, and it's then about knowing good 'selling techniques' to spark interest, spark attraction, and then finally know how to get the 'customer' to sign on the dotted line. There's much more to both sales and pick up than you seem to be suggesting in my opinion.
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