Chapter 27 — Exercises: Digital Retailing

Work these to lock in the chapter. You don't need to write essays — short, honest, specific answers beat long vague ones. A few calculation items have a numeric answer hidden in a <details> block; the rest are for your own practice, role-play partner, or instructor (selected answers live in Appendix I).

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

How to use these: Don't rush to the end. Parts A–B build understanding; Part C is where you actually practice the doing (write scripts, record a video, run a role-play); Parts D–E stretch your judgment. The single most valuable items in this whole set are the do-it-for-real ones in Part C — a script you've said out loud and a video you've actually recorded beat a hundred answers you only thought about.

Part A — Conceptual Understanding ⭐

1. In one sentence, what did online retailing genuinely change about the salesperson's job, and what did it not change?

2. Name three things a customer can do inside a dealer digital-retailing tool from their couch, and three things that still require an in-person human.

3. What does it mean that a trade-in "instant offer" is pending inspection? Why does that phrase matter?

4. Define the hybrid model of car buying in your own words. Which version of it is most common?

5. The chapter calls the salesperson's role in the hybrid model a "threshold concept." State the before-understanding view and the after-understanding view in one sentence each.

6. What is the cardinal sin of the online-to-in-store handoff? Why is it so damaging?

7. List the four moves of the handoff in order.

8. Name two things the pure-online players (e.g., Carvana) genuinely do well, and two things they struggle with.

9. What three things does a personalized walk-around video accomplish at once?

10. Why does the chapter say a salesperson is "competing against silence, not against influencers" when it comes to online presence?

11. What is the difference between a soft pull and a hard pull on a customer's credit, and which one typically happens first in an online credit application?

12. Explain the "overlap circle" from the honest scorecard in your own words. Name two things that belong in the overlap.

13. The chapter compares the online tool to a nail gun and the salesperson to a carpenter. Unpack that analogy: what's the point it's making about automation and your job?

14. True or false, and explain: "If a customer does more of the deal online, there's automatically less for the salesperson to do."

15. Why is the test drive described as "the part you couldn't do from your couch"? What does that one phrase accomplish when you say it to a customer?

Part B — Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

1. A customer submits an online deal at 11 p.m.: chosen vehicle, instant trade offer of $9,400 (pending inspection), credit app submitted, ESC selected, GAP declined, requests a Saturday appointment. A coworker says, "No money in these online deals — the price is already given away." Evaluate that claim using what you know about front-end vs. back-end gross.

2. A customer arrives having built a $0-down, 75-month deal because it showed the lowest monthly payment online. She declined GAP. Walk through what you'd want to make sure she's seen, and how you'd raise it without blowing up her happy deal.

3. The online tool offered a customer's trade at $11,200. The car comes in exactly as described — clean, right mileage, no accidents. Your desk manager says, "Bring it in at $9,800, she's already committed." What do you say, and why? What would have to be actually true for a lower number to be legitimate?

4. A lead comes in from a third-party marketplace asking, "Is stock #U3310 still available and does it have the tow package?" Draft both a bad response (clerical, no human) and a good response (fast, human, differentiating). Explain the difference.

5. A customer says, "I almost just bought from [the vending-machine company] — it was so easy." Write what you'd say. Then write what a defensive salesperson would say, and explain why yours is better.

6. Your dealership's online tool shows a finance rate that the desk can't actually honor when the customer arrives. Connect this to the Chapter 22 cautionary tale (Rick and the packed markup). What's the rule, and what's the cost of breaking it?

7. Two stores list the same used SUV at nearly the same price. Store A posts real photos, a clear itemized price, and a 60-second video from the actual salesperson. Store B posts a stock photo and "call for price." Predict which store the digital customer contacts and why, using Chapter 4 and Chapter 27 ideas together.

8. A customer arrives having built her deal at a competitor's website, but she's standing in your showroom because the competitor's salesperson made her start over and she walked out. She's wary. How do you use her bad experience to win her — without badmouthing the other store by name?

9. Your dealership is debating whether to let customers select and decline F&I products on the website, or to keep all product presentation in the F&I office. Make the case for putting the menu online, addressing the F&I manager's fear that "customers will just decline everything." (Hint: recall what kind of customer declines a product they understand vs. one they were pressured on.)

10. A lead's online deal shows they configured a $0-down, 84-month term to hit the lowest possible payment on a vehicle that depreciates quickly. They declined GAP. Identify two specific risks to the customer in that structure, and draft how you'd raise each one as a guide, not a salesperson trying to add gross.

11. Two customers contact you within the same hour. Customer 1 sent a bare "what's your best price on stock #4471?" Customer 2 built an 80%-complete online deal and requested an appointment. You can only respond carefully to one in the next five minutes. Who gets it and why? What's the fast-but-good response to the other?

Part C — Skills & Practice ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

1. Write your handoff script (Move 1). Draft, in your own words, the first thing you'll say to a customer who did 80% of their deal online — the greeting that acknowledges their work and proves they're not starting over. Make it specific enough that the customer can tell you actually looked at their deal.

2. Write your "we're honoring it" line (Move 4). Draft the exact words you'll use to confirm an online trade offer in person when the car checks out. Then draft the honest version for the rare case where the inspection reveals a genuine difference (e.g., undisclosed accident damage). Both should protect trust.

3. Record a personalized video (do it for real). Pick any vehicle on a lot (or any car you can access). Record a 60-second walk-around as if responding to a specific customer named "Sam" who asked about it. Say Sam's name, show the car, point out two real features, and stop. Watch it back. What would you do differently next time? (The goal is done, not perfect.)

4. Role-play the full handoff. With a partner, run all four moves: partner plays a customer who built a deal online and is braced to "start over." You greet, acknowledge, shrink the remaining work, transition to the drive, and honor the trade. Have your partner score one thing: did they feel like they were starting over, or finishing?

5. Calculate the deal Grace built. Using the chapter's figures — selling price $38,420, a $500 finance rebate applied, trade allowance $11,200, payoff $8,900, 6% sales tax on (price − allowance), doc fee $599 + title/reg $401, and a $3,000 down payment — compute the amount financed. Show each step.

6. Audit your own online presence (do it for real). Search your own name plus "car sales" (or your dealership). What comes up? Reviews? A profile? Nothing? Write down what a customer would find — then write the one thing you'll fix this week.

7. Write your competitor-respect line. Draft the two or three sentences you'll say, word for word, when a customer says "I almost just bought from [pure-online player]." Acknowledge the real strength, then position your added value, without badmouthing. Read it aloud. Does it sound confident or defensive?

8. Diagnose a failed handoff. Re-read Case Study 27-2 (Daniel at Crestline). Without looking at the analysis section, list the three distinct mistakes Brett made, in order, and write the corrected line for each. Then check yourself against the case study's analysis.

9. Build your review-request text. Write the exact follow-up text you'll send the day after a delivery to request a Google review by name. Keep it short, make the ask easy (a link), and make it pressure-free (so it works even if they don't review). Then write a second version for a customer who started the deal online.

10. Map your "human 20%." For one vehicle you sell, list five specific things you can do in person that the online tool cannot — and for each, write one sentence on how you'd actually deliver it during a handoff. If you can't get to five, you don't yet know where your value lives; keep working until you can.

11. The bait-and-switch math (why it loses money). A salesperson lowballs a committed customer's trade by $1,200 below the honored online offer, gaining $1,200 in immediate gross. The customer leaves a one-star review and never returns. Suppose that one honest customer would otherwise have averaged what the Nguyen family did in Chapter 16 — five referrals over a year, each buying a deal with roughly $1,800 of total gross. Estimate the gross *lost* (referrals that won't happen) against the $1,200 gained, ignoring the harder-to-quantify damage of the public review. What does the comparison tell you about the bait-and-switch as a business decision, not just an ethical one?

12. Write the four-move handoff for a used deal. Case Study 27-1 is a new SUV; Daniel's deal (27-2) is a used sedan. Write your own four-move handoff for a customer who built a deal online on a certified used vehicle with a trade. Pay special attention to Move 4 — used trades and used-car histories make the "honor the online number" moment trickier. Note where you'd lean on the vehicle history report (Chapter 20's territory).

Part D — Synthesis & Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐

1. The chapter argues that the rise of Carvana made the good local salesperson more valuable, not less. Build the argument in your own words. Then steelman the opposite view — what's the strongest case that pure-online retailing really could shrink the salesperson's role — and respond to it.

2. Is the online-offer bait-and-switch ever justified? Construct the most sympathetic case for dropping a trade number after the customer's committed, then dismantle it on both ethical and business grounds (use theme #3: ethics is the profitable long game).

3. A customer does everything online and asks to skip the test drive entirely — "just deliver it, I'll use the return policy if I hate it." You can do it. Should you push for a drive anyway? What's your obligation versus the customer's right to choose their own process?

4. The chapter says the customer who does more online leaves you the better part of the job, not less of it. Some veterans disagree, arguing every feature added to the online tool is one less reason for the dealership to pay a salesperson. Who's right, and over what time horizon? Tie your answer to theme #6 (this is a real career — adapt or be left behind).

5. Personalized video, reviews, and a social presence take time you could spend selling on the floor today. Make the case for and against a new salesperson investing that time in their first 90 days. Where would you draw the line, and why?

6. The chapter insists that "digital retailing fails at the handoff, not in the software," using the fact that Crestline and Summit own the same tool yet get opposite results. Is it ever fair to blame the tool? Describe a situation where the software genuinely is the problem — and one where blaming the tool is just an excuse for a human failure.

7. Pure-online players removed negotiation entirely (no-haggle). Some argue traditional dealers should do the same to compete; others say negotiation is where a good salesperson adds value and builds the relationship. Take a position. Under what conditions is no-haggle better for the customer, and under what conditions does a skilled, transparent negotiator serve them better? Tie your answer to the transparency-closes-more idea from Chapter 12.

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

These deliberately combine Chapter 27 with earlier chapters. That's the point — real deals don't stay in one chapter.

1. (Ch 27 + Ch 4) Renata Alvarez (Chapter 4) sent a VIN inquiry with a credit-union pre-approval. Grace Okonkwo-Bell (Chapter 27) built an 80%-complete online deal. Compare the two: what's the same about how you'd handle them, and what's different given how far each got online?

2. (Ch 27 + Ch 22 + Ch 24) A customer's online tool returned a sell rate of 7.9% (buy rate 6.9% + 1% markup, the canonical Okafor spread). She also selected an ESC at $2,200 online. At the desk, how do you handle the rate honestly (broker model), and how do you confirm the product she chose without re-pitching her? What would Priya do?

3. (Ch 27 + Ch 10) The handoff's Move 3 is the test drive. Pull your Chapter 10 test-drive route and trial-close script. How do you adapt it for a customer who's already decided online and is "just confirming"? What are you watching for that the online tool couldn't catch?

4. (Ch 27 + Ch 16) This chapter calls the online review "the modern extension of follow-up." Combine your Chapter 16 follow-up cadence with a review-request step and a post-delivery video. Write the 24-hour and 7-day touches for an online-started deal.

5. (Ch 27 + Ch 3) The fear map from Chapter 3 had three fears (pay too much / be manipulated / make a five-year mistake). For each fear, name one way the online tool reduces it and one way you, the human, reduce it during the handoff.

6. (Ch 27 + Ch 25) The online credit app starts as a soft pull and becomes a hard pull "when they're serious." Connect this to Chapter 25's compliance points: when can you run the hard pull, what permission do you need, and what's the deal-jacket implication?

7. (Ch 27 + Ch 11 + Ch 19) Grace got an $11,200 instant offer on her trade online, pending inspection. Pull your Chapter 11 trade walk-around and Chapter 19 used-vehicle pricing knowledge. When the car comes in as described, how do you confirm and present the honored number so it feels like a win — and how would the conversation differ if the inspection revealed an undisclosed accident?

8. (Ch 27 + Ch 14) The online customer is often pre-sold and arrives at "finalize." How does this change the closing skills from Chapter 14? Which trial closes still apply, which become unnecessary, and what's the new "close" when most of the deciding already happened online?

9. (Ch 27 + Ch 6) Mindset/resilience (Chapter 6): the rise of online retailing makes some salespeople anxious about their future. Using Chapter 6's tools, write a short "reframe" you'd give a discouraged coworker who says "the computer is taking our jobs." Make it honest, not just a pep talk.

Part E — Research & Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐

1. Find your own dealership's (or any dealership's) online retailing tool and use it as a customer — build a deal on a real listing without submitting it. Document every step: what could you do? Where did it get clunky? Where would a customer get stuck and need a human? Write a one-page "where this tool needs me" report.

2. Research the recent history of one pure-online player (Carvana, Vroom, CarMax's online operation, or a newer entrant). What happened to it financially in the last few years, and what does its trajectory suggest about the "all-online" thesis? Cite the kind of source you'd trust (reputable business or industry press), and note the date of your information — this space changes fast.

3. Compare two or three dealer digital-retailing vendors (e.g., the descendants of Roadster, Darwin Automotive, Cox Automotive's tools) on what they let a customer finish online versus where they hand off to a human. Build a small comparison table. Note that features change, so date your findings.