Not sure where to start when you’re handed a deal that’s already in progress? The trick is knowing when to get off the escalator.
One of the most powerful closes to use when inheriting a deal from someone else is the “ascending close.” This close happens when we ask a series of questions that ascend with more and more challenge and difficulty. The final element of the ascending close is asking for the order, which would rarely happen on a deal you just got. So, the trick is knowing when to get off.
But where do you get off? Exactly when the customer starts to pause or gives you a no. This is crucial for making the ascending close work effectively.
It works because difficulty is diagnostic. Every question you ask carries an implied level of assumed progress, and the moment a customer can’t keep pace with that assumption, they tell you exactly where the deal actually stands.
This lines up with decades of research on how complex sales conversations actually unfold. Neil Rackham’s work on question sequencing in high-value sales, built on studying tens of thousands of real sales calls, found that the questions a buyer can comfortably answer reveal how much of the problem they’ve genuinely worked through, not just how much they’ve been told. An inherited deal is a version of that same problem at a larger scale. You don’t know what the previous rep actually established versus what they assumed, and it’s a fast way to find out without re-running discovery from scratch.
Each rung of the ladder should raise the stakes slightly. Confirming a contact’s role is low-risk. Confirming a timeline raises the stakes a little. Confirming budget or authority raises them further still. The rung where the customer hesitates is the rung where the real work starts.
When you inherit a deal that was worked on by someone else, here’s how you can use the ascending close to your advantage. Start by asking a series of questions like, “So to make sure I understand, you’re the main point of contact on this opportunity, right?” If you hear a yes, move to the next question. “And you’re looking to make a decision by the end of the quarter?”
Continue to move up to more and more powerful closes until your customer interrupts you and says, “Well, actually, that’s not entirely true.” That’s where you know to get off the escalator and start your work on this deal.
It’s built for uncertainty. That’s exactly why it backfires on a deal you already know well.
If you originated the deal yourself and already have clean discovery, a rapid string of ascending questions reads as an interrogation instead of a check-in. Your customer answered these questions once already, and asking them again in escalating form signals that you weren’t listening the first time. Save it for the situations where you genuinely don’t know the answers.
Timing inside the call matters too. Running the ascending close in the first minute, before any rapport has been reestablished, tends to put the customer on the defensive rather than opening them up. Give the conversation a few minutes of warm-up before you start climbing the ladder.
And the close only works if you’re using it to diagnose honestly. If a customer’s answers make clear they’re not ready to move forward, the right response is to step back and address what’s missing, not to keep pushing rungs in hopes of forcing a yes. The value of the ascending close comes from accurate information, not from how far up the ladder you can drag someone.
The role and timeline questions in the example above are a solid starting ladder, but they’re not the only rungs worth building into an ascending close. A few more to have ready, roughly ordered from easiest to hardest:
“So you’ve got budget allocated for this already, or is that still being worked out?” tests whether the deal has real financial backing or just verbal interest.
“And you’re the one who signs off, or does this need to go up a level first?” tests authority directly, which is often the rung where an inherited deal quietly falls apart.
“Is there another vendor actively in the mix right now?” tests whether the previous rep’s read on the competitive situation still holds.
“If we sorted out [the open item], is there anything else standing between here and a decision?” is close to the top of the ladder, one step below asking for the order outright.
Keep the ladder loose rather than scripted. The goal isn’t to march through every rung in a fixed order on every call. It’s to have enough rungs ready that you can climb toward whichever one is most likely to surface where this specific deal actually stands.
The ascending close helps you uncover vital information and gauge the readiness of your customer. By gradually increasing the difficulty of your questions, you can identify the point where your customer is comfortable and where they need more information or reassurance. This method ensures that you don’t push too hard too soon and risk alienating your prospect.
Patience and keen observation are going to be key for this close. Pay attention to your customer’s responses and body language. The moment they show hesitation or provide a negative response, it’s a signal to step back and address their concerns before proceeding further.
It works best when it doesn’t start from zero. Before your first call on a deal you’ve inherited, pull whatever history exists: CRM notes, the previous rep’s emails, call recordings if you have them. You’re trying to establish a rough last-known state so your ladder of questions starts from where the deal actually left off, not from scratch.
If the deal has gone quiet rather than changed hands, the ascending close pairs well with the tactics in 6 Tactics to Move Stalled Deals Forward, since both problems come down to the same question: how much of what you were told is still true today.
This same instinct, confirming buying signals and champion status before assuming they still hold, is built into Hoffman’s Work The Deal™ methodology through The Perfect Meeting®. Whether you’re running a scheduled meeting or picking up someone else’s deal cold, the goal is the same: find the real signal before you act on an assumption.
Using the ascending close can help you seamlessly take over and advance deals that are already in progress. By knowing when to escalate and when to step back, you can build trust and move closer to closing the deal. So, next time you inherit a deal, remember the power of the ascending close and use it to your advantage.