How to handle girls who “just want to be friends first”

So I’ve heard this fairly commonly, women will say they’re not looking for anything immediate, they want to be friends first and see where it goes.

How do you approach this kind of woman on a date? Is the move to stick with usual game, like moving towards stronger kino, teasing, sexual topics. Or take a more laid back approach and see if you genuinely vibe and connect, i.e. stay on the safer side?

I feel like I shouldn’t trust when a woman says this, and just proceed as usual. Because as men we are in charge of leading the interaction and thus creating the vibe and connection. If we leave the date with no kiss or flirting, or pushing boundaries, she’s very likely to feel something’s missing that she can’t put her finger on.