So one of the things you will discover as an intermediate guy and as you become increasingly more calibrated is that there is a line between persistence and overagression.
I just went on a date tonight where I got the girl back to my place, got the music going, had her on top of me making out and super into it, but couldn't get any further. Honestly, I could have handled the escalation better, I think I made mistakes. I like to think there is a world where I could have made this a first night lay, although I'm not sure. But regardless I messed some things up and it clearly wasn't going to happen. Rather than getting all rapey and trying to push the issue, which I could tell wasn't going to work with this girl, I let her leave on a "we'll see each other again vibe". Now, was this a perfect date? No, because I didn't get laid. I definitely made some mistakes. But we really connected during conversation so I think there is a better than 50% chance that I see this girl again, and probably a better than 50% chance I get laid if I do
Its always better to go for the first date lay if you can get it. And you SHOULD go for it. Listen to Chase's advice about moving fast. But sometimes you need to recognize when its not going to happen and bail out before you push the issue too much. If you really try and push it and a girl shuts you down and leaves your odds are practically zilch of making it happen later.
In order of priority:
1) Get laid first date
2) Quicker informational first date where you don't make a move
3) Make a move and don't get the home run but you end things smoothly
4) Try to steal home (get laid over her objections) get thrown out to end the game
If you're failing at escalation obviously you need to work on your escalation skills, and there are a lot of good articles about that. But one of the other things to consider is that you might simply need to go in for the kill on the second or third date in some of these scenarios.
In a perfect world you are getting in there the first time you meet a girl, but that's not always realistic, especially if you are at the beginner or intermediate stages. I'm very good at my one particular niche of dating and I probably average date 1.5 for my most recent year