Chapter 17 — Exercises: Prospecting and Self-Generated Business

Work these in order; later parts build on earlier ones. Most need no answer key (selected answers live in Appendix I); for the calculation items, a numeric answer is hidden in a <details> block.

Difficulty legend: ⭐ basic · ⭐⭐ applied · ⭐⭐⭐ synthesis/judgment · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ extension/research

Part A — Conceptual Understanding ⭐

1. In one sentence each, define prospecting, sphere of influence (SOI), orphan owner, be-back, and conquest business.

2. The chapter calls floor traffic a "commodity" source of opportunity and self-sourced business a "proprietary" source. Explain what each word means in this context and why the distinction matters to your career.

3. List the three ways a self-sourced deal beats a floor up (the chapter gives them as three "directions at once"). For each, give the underlying reason in one phrase.

4. Why does the chapter insist you "announce, not sell" to your sphere of influence? What specifically goes wrong with the "are you in the market? want to buy a car?" approach?

5. What is the difference between broadcast (one-to-many) video and one-to-one video, and what is each one good for?

6. Define positive equity in your own words, and explain why a customer with positive equity is a welcome person to call.

7. Name the three "thieves" that kill a daily prospecting block, and name the single timing rule that defends against all three at once.

8. Match each law to what it governs: TCPA, Do-Not-Call Registry (DNC), CAN-SPAM. (One governs marketing email; one governs calls and texts including consent for cell phones; one is a registry consumers can join to stop telemarketing.)

9. The chapter argues "the legal way is also the effective way." Restate that argument in your own words — why isn't compliance a trade-off against results here?

10. Which three themes does this chapter emphasize (by number and name), and give a one-line example of each from the chapter.

Part B — Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

1. The rainy-Tuesday contrast. Rick says, "You can't sell cars when there's no ups. Nothing I can do. It's the weather." The chapter says he was "half right." What part is true, what part is the mistake, and what should Rick have done six months earlier to avoid the dead-floor trap?

2. The math, your numbers. Two salespeople each work with 50 customers in a month. Salesperson A: all 50 are floor ups, closing at 20%. Salesperson B: 10 floor ups (20%) and 40 self-sourced (50%). How many cars does each sell? Now add gross: A averages $1,800/deal, B averages $2,600/deal. How much total gross does each generate? In two sentences, explain why B's customers were warmer despite identical effort.

3. Equity mine, worked. A past customer financed $36,000 over 72 months three years ago; payoff today is about $19,000; the car's market value is about $24,000. (a) What's their equity position and how much? (b) Are they a good prospect to call? (c) Write the first sentence of your call — the one that leads with their benefit, not your sale.

4. Sphere-list shock. A new hire insists, "I have maybe ten prospects, tops." Walk them through the exercise that proved Jordan wrong (Jordan found 214). List at least eight categories of people they're forgetting, and explain the rule "don't pre-qualify anyone."

5. Content audit. A salesperson's social feed is 90% inventory posts ("2024 SUV $389/mo, come see me!!"). Diagnose what's wrong, predict the result, and rewrite their content plan into a healthier mix using the chapter's three working categories.

6. The orphan ask. You want to mine orphan owners. (a) Who do you ask, and (b) why will they almost certainly say yes? (c) What's in it for the dealership when you work orphans? (Tie your answer to how the desk thinks — units, gross, CSI/retention.)

7. Be-back reframe. Most of the floor writes off unsold customers as "lay-downs who lie." The chapter reframes unsold follow-up as prospecting. Explain the reframe and why a be-back you re-engage closes better than a fresh up.

8. Diagnose the funnel. A salesperson works their priority orphan list for two weeks: 58 contacted → 30 reached → 11 said "run the numbers" → 7 appointments set → 5 showed → 3 sold. (a) Which single stage shows the biggest absolute drop-off? (b) Pick one stage and name a concrete change that could improve that stage specifically. (c) Is a 3-from-58 result a success or a failure? Defend your answer using the chapter's "asset, not just a sale" idea.

9. Ring strategy. You've sorted your sphere into three rings: champions (15 people), warm network (70), familiar acquaintances (140). For each ring, describe (a) the kind of message/touch that fits, (b) roughly how often you'd touch them, and (c) what you're actually trying to accomplish with that ring. Why would sending all three rings the identical message be a mistake?

10. Conquest vs. database, sized up. Your manager says, "Stop babying your old customers and go conquest the competitor's owners — that's where growth is." Evaluate the advice. When is conquest the right priority, when is it the wrong one, and what does relying only on conquest cost a salesperson compared to also mining their own database?

Part C — Skills & Practice ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

1. Build your real SOI list. Open your phone, contacts, texts, social media, email, and any old work directory. List at least 100 real names (don't pre-qualify). Then sort them into three rings: champions, warm network, familiar acquaintances. Bring the count — most people clear 200 and are surprised.

2. Write your "announcement" word track. Draft the personalized, pressure-free message announcing what you do now — written for the hardest case first (the friend whose good opinion you most fear losing). Then run it through the test: would a real friend be glad to receive this, or feel cornered? Revise until it passes.

3. Film one piece of content (for real). Pick one of your three video topics (drawn from a chapter you've mastered — e.g., needs analysis, test drives, trade-in value, leasing vs. buying). Write a 60–90 second script aimed at helping the buyer, then actually record it on your phone. Consistency beats polish; the awkward one you post beats the perfect one you don't.

4. Role-play the equity call. With a partner (or out loud, solo), deliver the Sandra-Mills equity call from §17.8 in your own words. Your partner plays a slightly skeptical past customer ("I'm fine with my current car"). Practice (a) leading with their benefit, (b) removing pressure explicitly, and (c) offering the low-commitment next step ("just run the numbers so you know where you stand"). Then swap roles.

5. Design your daily prospecting block. Put a real, recurring power hour on your actual calendar (a specific time, ideally first thing). Write the four-part agenda you'll run inside it, plus your two defenses against the three thieves (interruptions, "later," empty list). Then do it once this week and journal what happened.

6. Diagnose what went wrong. A new salesperson messaged all 214 contacts the same copy-pasted "I sell cars now — buy one from me!" text in one afternoon, got three annoyed replies and two "lose my number," and concluded "prospecting your sphere doesn't work." Identify every mistake, explain the permanent cost, and rewrite their approach into something that would work.

7. Write your equity-call word track. Using the Sandra-Mills example as a model, write your own version of the positive-equity call — in your own voice — for a past customer who has roughly $3,000 in equity and is about 38 months into a 72-month loan. It must (a) open by leading with their benefit, (b) be specific and true (not vague), (c) explicitly remove pressure, and (d) end with a low-commitment next step. Then write the two-sentence text version for a customer you can't reach by phone.

8. Build your real prospecting-sources map. On one page, list (a) the specific orphan/database list you'll request and from whom, (b) the two equity/timing signals you'll mine first, (c) two community relationships or referral partners you'll start building this month, and (d) three video topics you'll film, each tied to a chapter you've already studied. Beside every source, note its permission/legal status (do you have consent to call/text? is this list scrubbed against DNC?). Keep this; it folds into your 90-day plan in Chapter 39.

Part D — Synthesis & Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐

1. The TCPA judgment call. Your manager hands you a purchased list of 5,000 cell numbers and says, "Blast them all a trade-in offer text — it's a numbers game." Walk through (a) the legal risk, (b) the reputational risk, (c) the effectiveness problem, and (d) what you'd actually propose instead. How do you push back professionally?

2. Friend-and-business tension. A close friend wants to buy from you, but you can already tell the vehicle they're set on is wrong for their needs and budget. Using theme #1 (help, don't sell) and the buyer's-side stakes from the chapter, what do you do — and why does getting this right protect both the friendship and your referral base?

3. The "important but not urgent" problem. The chapter argues prospecting fails not for lack of knowledge but because it's important-but-never-urgent work. Connect this to the activity mindset from Chapter 6. Why is "I'll prospect when it's slow" a trap, and why is scheduling (not motivation) the real fix?

4. Conquest vs. database. Mining your own happy customers converts far better than conquesting strangers from other brands. So why bother with conquest at all? When does a salesperson need to conquest, and what does that tell you about the lifecycle of a sales career?

5. Ethics line in the rings. Your innermost "champions" ring (close family and friends) will buy from you almost no matter what. Is it ethical to sell them at full gross? Where's the line between serving your sphere and exploiting their trust? Tie your answer to the gut-check from Chapter 3: "would I be comfortable if this customer could hear my thoughts?"

6. The "important but not urgent" trap, defended. A new salesperson tells you: "I totally agree prospecting matters — I'll start as soon as I get through this busy stretch." Diagnose why that sentence almost guarantees they'll never prospect. Then construct the argument for why a scheduled block (not "when I have time," not "when it's slow," not "when I feel motivated") is the only version that survives contact with a real sales floor. Reference the activity-mindset logic from Chapter 6.

7. Two salespeople, five years later. Salesperson A took every floor up for five years and prospected almost never; Salesperson B took fewer floor ups but built and worked a database from year one. Both sold roughly the same number of cars in any given month. Describe how their careers diverge over five years — income stability, what happens when each changes stores, stress and burnout risk, and who owns an asset versus who owns a job. Connect this to theme #6.

Part M — Mixed / Interleaved Practice ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

1. Prospecting + Follow-up (Ch 16). The chapter says follow-up and prospecting are "the same machine pointed at different fuel." Explain that claim. Then design a single weekly routine that handles both the people you've already met (Ch 16 follow-up) and the people you're generating (Ch 17 prospecting) without doubling your workload.

2. Prospecting + Delivery (Ch 15) + the Nguyen family. The Nguyens sent five referrals after a great delivery. Trace the full loop: how does a great delivery (Ch 15) feed the prospecting pipeline (Ch 17), and how does prospecting your sphere then create more Nguyen-style deliveries? Draw or describe the loop.

3. Prospecting + Needs Analysis (Ch 8). A referral arrives pre-trusting and ready. Is it safe to skip the needs analysis because "they already trust me"? Argue why a strong needs analysis matters just as much with a warm referral — and what you risk if you coast on the relationship.

4. Prospecting + Trade-In (Ch 11) + equity. Your database mine surfaces a customer with $4,000 positive equity. Walk the conversation from the equity call (Ch 17) into the trade evaluation (Ch 11): what do you need to confirm in person, and how does positive equity change the trade conversation versus a typical upside-down customer?

5. Prospecting + Mindset (Ch 6) in a slump. You're in a three-week slump; motivation is gone, and prospecting feels pointless. Using the slump-recovery logic from Ch 6 (most slumps are activity slumps) and the time-blocking discipline from this chapter, write the exact protocol you'd follow Monday morning to dig out.

6. Prospecting + Compensation (Ch 5). Map prospecting onto your pay plan's activity-to-income math. If a self-sourced deal closes at 2.5× the floor rate and holds more gross, what does an hour of prospecting a day plausibly add to your annual income? (Estimate with reasonable composite numbers and show your reasoning — the point is to feel the leverage, not to be precise.)

7. Prospecting + Customer Types (Ch 3). Your sphere and database contain all five customer types (researcher, relationship, price, emotional, need-based). Pick two types and explain how you'd tailor your prospecting outreach to each — what message, what proof, what next step lands for a relationship buyer versus a researcher? Why does prospecting the same way for everyone leave business on the table?

Part E — Research & Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐

1. TCPA, current state. TCPA rules around consent for marketing calls and texts have been tightening in recent years. Research the current consent requirements for sending marketing texts to cell phones (start with the FCC and FTC). Summarize, in plain English, what kind of consent a dealership now needs — and flag two things you're unsure about that you'd ask a compliance officer before prospecting by text. (Note: laws change; cite the date of what you find.)

2. A working salesperson's content engine. Find one real salesperson or dealership that prospects well through social/video content (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram). Without copying them, analyze: what's their content mix (helpful vs. human vs. cars)? How often do they hard-sell? What can you adapt — and what wouldn't fit your market or personality?

3. Equity tools. Dealerships use equity-mining software (tools that scan the DMS/CRM for customers in a strong trade position) — names like those tied to data-mining and CRM platforms. Research how one such tool works at a high level: what data it pulls, what it flags, and how a salesperson would use its output ethically. What's the risk of leaning on the tool instead of the relationship?