Looks? What’ll get you to the top, they say (6)
I believe the answer is:
stares
'looks?' is the definition.
(I know this)
'what'll get you to the top they say' is the wordplay.
'what'll get you to the top' becomes 'stairs' (a flight of stairs).
'they say' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'stairs' is a homophone of 'STARES'.
(Other definitions for stares that I've seen before include "Looks fixedly" , "Looks lengthily at" , "Looks hard" , "Assert with long looks" , "Long gazes" .)