this was a sticking point for me, still is in some cases. a good thing to do is add value to the convosation, run a routine like the rings routine or the best friends test. elict hooks and make convosational threads, take control of the frame ect thers a bunch of things you can you. however one mistake i made was thinking i had to do all of them in order for a successful pick up.
however you dont, the reason there is so many things we can use, its basicaly so we are able to act and adapt to any social interaction in order for a higher chance of success, if you pick up a HB without using negs, or a freeze out, its no big you still picked up the HB as long as you dont AFC it youl be fine

another good thing to do, to get over this sticking point, open a fuck load of sets and learn to calibirate more. the more you practice the better you will become
i still have my sticking points, im a newbie and consider myself an RAFC, but with practice im gonna be a PUA, like any game, the more you play, the better you become
