You ask — directly, and before the decision depends on the answer. “How are we doing so far?” “Does everything make sense up to this point?” “On a scale of 1 to 10, where are you guys at with this?” The temperature check is the pre-close's core instrument: it converts your guess about readiness into their statement of it.
The short answer
“How are we doing so far?” — “Is there anything I've gone over that doesn't make sense?” — “On a scale of 1 to 10, where are you guys at with this?”
The documented temperature checks — including the scale question that gives hesitation a number to live in.
The scale question earns its keep: a “seven” is an invitation with an address — what would make it a ten? — and the answer is the unfinished piece, named by the homeowner, while finishing it is still cheap. That is the entire value of checking before the close instead of discovering the temperature from the objection after it.
How it runs
Reps avoid temperature checks for the same reason they avoid trial closes: fear of the answer. But the answer exists whether you collect it or not — the only choice is whether you meet it in the pre-close, with time and tools, or at the close, as resistance. A warm reading licenses the ask; a cool one routes you back to the specific gap — a criterion unproven, a concern unsurfaced, a decision maker unpersuaded — and the framework handles gaps better than it handles surprises. Check early enough to act on what you learn.
Every moment in these guides is a Spar round you can lose safely tonight instead of at a kitchen table tomorrow. Round 1 is free; the full camp is $29/month. Spar before you knock.