To Whitfield's disappointment, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" failed twice to make it through Motown's Friday morning Quality Control meetings, with Berry Gordy commenting that the song was good, but "needed more story".

By the end of the "Ain't Too Proud" recording session, recalls Temptation Otis Williams, Ruffin was "drowning in sweat and his glasses were all over his face".

However, both "Ain't Too Proud" and "Get Ready", a Temptations track produced by Smokey Robinson with Eddie Kendricks on lead, turned up at the same Quality Control meeting.

Cornelius Grant, the Temptations' road guitarist, band director, and songwriter, recalled that after that decision was made, "it was as if the veins jumped out of Norman's neck."

As a compromise, Gordy promised Whitfield that "Ain't Too Proud" would be the next single if "Get Ready" failed to reach the Top 20 on the Billboard Pop Chart.