Go For No

ISBN: 0966398130

Go For No is a unique sales book that tells you that the path to success is getting as many no’s as possible. The mark of progress is not avoiding failure or actually accomplishing your goals, but getting a no. The authors teach this strategy through a brief fictional story.

The turning point is when the protagonist, a salesman just getting by in life, learns an important lesson after selling a large amount of clothing to a customer:

“After the customer left, Harold, [my manager], finally sauntered over and said, ‘Nice sale kid.” My chest puffed out with pride. ‘Eleven hundred dollars!’ I proclaimed. But Harold just stood there and didn’t seem overly impressed. Finally he said, ‘I’m just curious, but what did that customer say no to?’ ‘What do you mean?’ I shot back. ‘That guy just bought a suit, sport coat, three shirts, six ties, shoes, socks, a belt and underwear! What do you mean, what did he say no to?’

“Harold waited calmly for me to stop being defensive, then he said, ‘We’ve already established what he said yes to. What I want to know now is, what did he say no to?’

“I thought for a long time, mentally reviewing the sale in my mind, then sheepishly I replied, ‘Nothing. That customer didn’t say no to anything.’ ‘So,’ Harold asked, ‘then how did you know he was done?’

I have long embraced rejection in my life, but this book takes it to another level by advising you to set goals based on the number of no’s you receive. Here are some quotes:

The salesperson never decides when the sale is over; the customer does.

[…]

“I realized that failure was the halfway mark on the road to success, not a destination to be avoided but rather a stepping stone to get what I really wanted in life. Most people get to the sign marked ‘failure’ and they figure they’re heading in the wrong direction turn around and head back home. They think that success must be back the other way, but it’s not! It’s straight ahead!”

[…]

Failing… and becoming a failure… are two very different things. Successful people fail eagerly while failures avoid failing.

[…]

“Courage is not the absence of fear”… “Courage is acting in the face of fear. It’s being afraid of something and doing it anyway.”

[…]

“I told them that hearing yes is the easy part of the job and teaches you virtually nothing. But learning to hear no over and over again and to never quit… now that builds character and self-esteem. That’s empowering.”

[…]

“I know the day I start giving in to my fears in one area of my life, it will only be a matter of time before it becomes easier to avoid other challenges as well.”

[…]

“…if you truly want to accelerate your sales performance, you have to fail faster!”

[…]

“…a no is always better than getting a ‘let me think about it.’”

Not only should you get a no from a prospect, but you should get multiple no’s. You should be like a child asking his parent for a candy bar at the checkout line of the grocery store. Does the child give up at the first no? No.

This strategy reminds me of myself when trying to invite a girl back to my apartment. On many occasions I’ve received over five no’s before she finally changed it to a yes. I would have lost out on dozens of notches if I didn’t keep pushing my prospect. An initial no merely begins the closing process.

This book is about sales but it very effortlessly applies to getting laid. Simply substitute sales calls with approaches. I highly recommended it for its powerful message and brevity.

Read More: “Go For No” on Amazon

42 thoughts on “Go For No”

  1. Sluts are fun Roosh but maybe write about something interesting like white de-population or something

        1. You must be very new to manosphere.
          I don’t like the non-Whites dating outside their race, either. But it doesn’t disprove or undermine any of his writings. Athlone McGinnis is a black writer here who, presumably, uses Game on white girls. I don’t like that, but he’s a solid writer and makes many great points, most all of which are independent of race. Take what you can, acknowledge truth and talent wherever it may be, and understand you can persuade, but not control, other men.
          I’m about as “anti-Semitic” as you can get (identifying and disagreeing with Jewish control of finance, media, and government and so forth), but I can enjoy Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy or a well-made Spielberg movie, etc.

    1. The opposite: RoK has been skimping a bit on the solid Game tips, of late.
      I agree with and sympathize with your desire to fix White genocide. But that’s not RoK’s subject. Still, they do allow free expression amongst men in the comments, so feel free to speak of WN or whatever where it might be appropriate. (I’ve only gotten censored once – that was for discussing the master race that rhymes with “yew”.)
      And like dragnet said, Roosh is half Persian, half Arab. Not European, and most wouldn’t (technically) classify him as white (unless he’s accused of a “hate crime”, like George Zimmerman).

  2. Scientifically speaking, negative results are always more useful, and the best scientists seek negative results early and often in their experiments. Proving that a sub-nuclear particle does exist via imaging may be a story worth noting someday, but it is ultimately useless for knowledge. By contrast, the scientist who long ago noticed that his mass and energy were out of balance based on what he believed existed in his experiment was much much better for science.
    Negative results are always easier to get, usually far more useful if your question is formed properly, and ultimately form much more of the backbone of the knowledge base of mankind. We didn’t learn to send rockets to the moon by putting Neil on the surface on the first try, we blew some shit up first, and learned a lot in the process.

  3. “See that, guys? Fifty No’s and a Yes… means Yes.”
    –Sean Connery, “Family Guy”–

  4. When cold calling, 80-85% (the exact number is somewhere in there) of the sales made come between the 5th and 12th contact. That’s at least 4 rejections before an ok and as many as 11. And, the “ok” is usually a visit to the office, not a “ship me the warehouse!” I try to get through the first four rejections as quickly as humanly possible.

  5. Going for the no is a good philosophy both in sales and game, but is there much more to this book than this principle?

    1. A good thing about fundamental principles like this one is that if you really get it and use it, you will need nothing else.

  6. If you aren’t experiencing frequent rejection, you aren’t pushing your limits hard enough.

  7. ‘Go For No’ may be based on Gunwitch’s “Make the Ho Say No” method. He used to be listed at Alt.Seduction.Fast. Then he got into serious trouble …. never go full retard.
    There are lots of interesting tidbits at ASF. Newbies can learn a lot from the old posts. Regardless, be selective and careful in applying any tips.

    1. Based on? Are you kidding me? This book was written LONG before “Gunwitch” ever hit the seen. LOL

    2. Based on? Are you kidding me? This book was written LONG before “Gunwitch” ever hit the seen. LOL

    1. No means yes, yes means anal. Bill Clinton
      1000 No… one yes = yes Hillary Clinton

  8. “This strategy reminds me of myself when trying to invite a girl back to my apartment. On many occasions I’ve received over five no’s before she finally changed it to a yes. I would have lost out on dozens of notches if I didn’t keep pushing my prospect. An initial no merely begins the closing process.”

    Five “no’s” seems a bit extreme to me—sometimes, “no” really does mean “no” and that she really isn’t interested in having sex that night.
    It may seem cheesy, but I’ve found the “three strikes” rule to be most effective. In my experience if a girl says “no” to you three times it’s just not happening that night, YMMV.
    But I definitely agree with the mindset of pushing through that initial rejection–pushing past those first few “no’s” will generally ensure that you don’t leave any pussy on the table.

  9. A professional is an amateur that’s failed many times in the past.
    Success is created by failing without losing ambition.
    The best business partner I had was a guy who’d just come out of bankruptcy, poor guy got drilled by larger corporations squeezing him out…. he couldn’t even open a checking account… he taught me all the tricks of how not to go bankrupt and what to do if I did.

  10. ‘So,’ Harold asked, ‘then how did you know he was done?’
    This is a nice illustration of the concept of consumer surplus.

  11. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard and risking enough.
    This and many of the books discussed here sound better than weeks of therapy.
    Thanks for the tip.

  12. Just for once, all men collectively should, as soon as a woman says “No” the 1st time. Pick up your shit and leave and never call or text her again. (What would happen if the masses did this?) Grab your popcorn?

  13. One way to make rejection work for you is for others to see your reaction to it.
    If you are rejected especially in a nasty way and you are cool, calm and collect and congruently show that’s you could not give a fuck in demeanor and action, then it shows your high value and self worth to onlookers and the person doing the rejecting.

  14. i hope you realize to just confessing to rape through coercion you disgusting rapist. this is what rapists do. just think about that.

    1. What’s this got to do with rape? The “nos” being referred to here is for stuff like asking girls for their number, asking them out on dates, etc.

  15. Hey Roosh, glad to see you enjoyed the book I recommended. Now if I could just recommend about 500 more life-changing books, I’d be about 70% of the way to paying what your advice (through your blog, and RoKs) has done for me.

  16. The wiles and guiles that women work,
    Dissembled with an outward show,
    The tricks and toys that in them lurk,
    The cock that treads them shall not know.
    Have you not heard it said full oft,
    A woman’s nay doth stand for naught?

  17. Roosh, buddy, what happened to your info section? Look’s like Tuthmosis’ “fan base” got to it, or something.
    Also–sorry about the hand. Hope it heals, or… regresses.

  18. Roosh, in “Bang” you state, more or less as an indiscussed rule, that if a girl doesn’t reply to your sms, you should give up and not keep messaging her. I assume a no-reply to a text is a “no”. So why not to be persistent (like you are when it comes to invite a girl to your flat) and try again finding somehow a way to convince her? (of course only in the case she previously showed some attraction to you)

    1. Air silence in this example is quite severe. Persistence doesn’t overcome it like in other cases.

  19. I wish I had been exposed to this kind of thinking when I was a lot younger. Instead I was taught to walk on eggshells and fear “no” like it was a hateful condemnation of everything that I was. “No” should be music to your ears, everytime you hear it, it means you had to balls to go for what you wanted. Every time you say it, it means you have the balls to stand your ground.

  20. I don’t understand why it always comes back to women. Why is it always about sex? I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but a majority of the topics here start off decently, and then almost immediately branch off into: “…and it’s applies to getting laid.”
    I feel like we should be making more philosophical contributions, or at least ones that provide more than just personal opinions. Some of the articles here that mention facts don’t actually provide links to the source, which is a shame because I am very interested in reading most of them. I feel like I’m reading a man’s diary half the time, and not anything of substance.
    Please correct me if I am mistaken. I’d very much like to be.

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