Chapter 29 — Quiz: BDC and Internet Sales

Test yourself before moving on. Answers and short explanations are hidden in each <details> block — try the question first. Scoring guide at the end.

Part 1 — Multiple Choice (choose the best answer)

Q1. The single most important goal of a lead-response phone call is to: - A) Quote your absolute lowest out-the-door price - B) Sell the car over the phone - C) Set a firm, confirmed appointment - D) Collect the customer's Social Security number for a credit check

Answer **C.** "Set the appointment, don't sell the car on the phone." The car sells in person; the call exists to get the person into the room. (A) creates a "price changed" problem at the desk and removes the reason to come in; (B) is impossible — nobody buys a car over the phone; (D) is wildly premature and a compliance problem.

Q2. "BDC" stands for: - A) Buyer Discount Coordinator - B) Business Development Center - C) Bulk Dealer Communications - D) Background Data Check

Answer **B.** The Business Development Center — the team whose job is to catch the customer's first contact fast, be helpful, and set the appointment.

Q3. Why do internet leads "always lose" to live customers when a salesperson handles both? - A) Internet leads are usually fake - B) A live, in-person up correctly captures the salesperson's attention, so leads sit unanswered - C) Internet leads can't be sold a car - D) Managers forbid answering leads on the floor

Answer **B.** Floor selling and fast lead-response compete for the same attention, and a live up should always win — so leads sit until the salesperson is free, often hours later. That's the whole reason the BDC exists: to make lead response someone's *only* job.

Q4. "Speed-to-lead" matters most because: - A) The dealership's phones are only on for five minutes at a time - B) The customer contacted multiple dealers and the first helpful responder wins disproportionately - C) Cars sell faster in the morning - D) The CRM deletes leads after an hour

Answer **B.** The internet customer sent the same inquiry to several stores; they're running a live race, and the first helpful responder usually wins — frequently regardless of price.

Q5. Of the four channels, which is generally the most-read but carries the heaviest legal rules? - A) Email - B) Phone - C) Text - D) Chat

Answer **C.** Text is opened almost immediately (most-read), but the TCPA's consent and opt-out rules make it the most legally sensitive channel.

Q6. A customer calls and asks for "your best price." The best response is to: - A) Refuse to discuss price until they come in - B) Blurt your absolute rock-bottom number to win the call - C) Give the real posted price transparently, explain what the out-the-door depends on, and set the appointment - D) Tell them prices change constantly and they should hurry in

Answer **C.** Transparency closes more (Ch 12). (A) is the failed gatekeeper move; (B) is a guess you may have to walk back and removes their reason to come in; (D) is evasive pressure. Give the real number, refuse to *fake* a final number, set the appointment.

Q7. The alternate-choice appointment close ("Saturday at 10 or 2?") works because it: - A) Confuses the customer into agreeing - B) Replaces the hard yes/no decision ("come in at all?") with the easy decision ("which time?") - C) Is required by law - D) Lowers the price automatically

Answer **B.** It moves the customer from the big, deferrable decision to a small, easy one — and committing to the visit happens almost as a side effect. It's ethical when the visit genuinely serves the customer.

Q8. Under the TCPA, if a customer replies "STOP" to your texts, you must: - A) Send one more text confirming they want to stop - B) Stop texting them promptly and permanently - C) Switch to calling them instead, immediately - D) Wait 30 days then resume

Answer **B.** Honor the opt-out promptly and permanently. Texting after a STOP is a classic, expensive violation.

Q9. Which CRM practice indicates a healthy lead pipeline? - A) Many leads sitting in "New" for several days - B) Leads in "Contacted" with no next-action date - C) Honest, current statuses and a scheduled next action on every lead - D) Marking unreachable leads "Lost" after one unanswered call

Answer **C.** Honest, current statuses plus a scheduled next action on every lead. (A) and (B) are money walking out the door; (D) throws away leads that often convert on a *later* attempt.

Q10. In the funnel 100 leads → contact rate → set rate → show rate → close rate, improving an early-stage number (like contact rate) tends to: - A) Have no effect on units - B) Cascade into a larger increase in final units than the same improvement at a later stage - C) Only matter if you also lower the price - D) Hurt the show rate

Answer **B.** Early-stage gains multiply through every stage below them, so a small upstream improvement produces an outsized increase in delivered units.

Q11. A "fake-personal" automated reply (a bot pretending to be a human named "Jordan") is a problem because: - A) Bots are illegal - B) It's slower than a human - C) When the customer discovers the deception, it poisons trust before you ever really talk - D) It costs too much

Answer **C.** Automation for *speed* is fine; *deception about whether a human is there* destroys trust the moment it's discovered (Ch 7 §7.7).

Q12. Industry experience on lead follow-up suggests that the salesperson who calls a lead once and gives up is: - A) Doing it right — leads that don't answer are dead - B) Leaving most of their reachable leads on the table, since many contacts happen on a later attempt - C) Violating the TCPA - D) Setting too many appointments

Answer **B.** A large share of contacts happen on the second, third, or later attempt — so one-and-done abandons leads that would have converted. "Internet leads are junk" usually means "I quit after one call."

Part 2 — True / False (give a one-line justification)

Q13. You should always quote your lowest out-the-door price over the phone to win the deal.

Answer **False.** An out-the-door number depends on the trade, taxes/fees, rebates, and financing you can't finalize by phone; a blurted number is a guess that creates a "price changed" betrayal at the desk and removes the reason to come in. Give the real *posted* price transparently and set the appointment.

Q14. A set appointment and a delivered car are essentially the same thing.

Answer **False.** Appointments leak at the show stage — a meaningful share never walk in. Show rate is often the biggest, most-overlooked leak; confirming and reminding is what converts set appointments into shows.

Q15. You can text any customer in your CRM about a sale because they're already your customer.

Answer **False.** The TCPA generally requires prior express consent for marketing texts; many customers may never have consented or may have opted out. Mass-texting non-consenting numbers risks per-message penalties. Only text consenting customers, through a compliant platform.

Q16. On the phone, a smile makes no difference because the customer can't see you.

Answer **False.** A smile is *audible* — it changes the sound of your voice, and people genuinely hear it down the line. Smiling on the phone is a real technique, not a cliché.

Q17. "Can I help you?" fails on the lot but works fine as a phone greeting.

Answer **True.** A customer who *called you* has already lowered their shield, so the defensive "just looking" reflex isn't triggered the way it is when you approach a walk-in (Ch 7).

Q18. Speed-to-lead is one of the five core performance numbers.

Answer **False.** The five are response time, contact rate, set rate, show rate, and close rate. Lead *response time* is one of them — but "speed-to-lead" as a concept is better understood as the *lever* that moves the first two (contact rate and show rate). (Acceptable to count response time as the speed metric; the point is that speed drives the funnel.)

Part 3 — Short Answer (2–4 sentences each)

Q19. Explain the discipline "set the appointment, don't sell the car on the phone" and why it's correct.

Answer The goal of every lead-response interaction is a firm, confirmed appointment — not closing a sale by phone — because people buy cars in person: the test drive, the trade appraisal, and the real numbers all require the customer in the room. Trying to "sell" or finalize price by phone produces guesses you walk back at the desk and removes the customer's reason to come in. You earn the appointment by being helpful and honest first; the car then sells itself in person.

Q20. Walk through the seven steps of the outbound appointment-setting call.

Answer (1) Be fast and lead with *why you're calling*, referencing their inquiry, and ask if it's an okay time. (2) Answer their question first, transparently. (3) Brief, warm discovery. (4) Bridge the appointment to *their* stated need. (5) The alternate-choice close ("Saturday at 10 or 2?") — then stop talking. (6) Confirm-capture-set-expectations: repeat the time, confirm the number + text consent, say what to expect/bring, give a name to ask for, preview the reminder (this wins the *show*). (7) Log everything in the CRM immediately.

Q21. A salesperson complains, "Internet leads are junk — they never answer." Diagnose what's most likely actually happening, and what the salesperson should do instead.

Answer The leads probably aren't junk — the *follow-through* is. The salesperson most likely calls once, leaves no value, and gives up, when in reality a large share of contacts happen on the second, third, or later attempt and most good customers don't answer the first call. The fix is a value-carrying multi-attempt sequence across different channels and times (call → email/text → call at a different hour → value touch on Day 2, etc.), where every touch gives or asks something (the history report, a walk-around video, a real answer), tracked as scheduled tasks in the CRM so the touches actually happen.

Q22. Why does the confirmation step of an appointment call (repeating the time, setting expectations, sending a reminder) matter so much? Tie it to a specific funnel number.

Answer It directly drives the **show rate** — the percentage of set appointments that actually walk in, which is often the biggest and most-overlooked leak in the funnel. Setting an appointment is only half the job; an appointment that doesn't show is worth nothing. Repeating the time so it sticks, telling the customer what to expect and bring, giving them a name to ask for, and sending a confirmation plus a day-of reminder all make the visit feel real and reduce no-shows — turning more set appointments into shows, which cascades into more deliveries.

Part 4 — Applied Scenario

Q23. A fresh lead arrives at 4:02 PM: Devon Lee, Cars.com, 2021 compact sedan stock #U2271, message: "Is this still available? What's the payment? Have a trade. Need a car soon." Consent box was checked. You're free right now. Walk through, concretely, what you do in the next 15 minutes — the channel(s), the first sentence of your outreach, how you handle the payment question, your appointment close, and what you log. Then state which funnel numbers your actions are designed to protect.

Model answer **Minute 0–2: Call (speed-to-lead).** Devon's interest is at its peak right now and they contacted other dealers too, so the phone call goes out immediately. First sentence: *"Hi, is this Devon? — Hi Devon, this is [you] over at Summit Auto Group. You just reached out about the compact sedan, stock ending in 2271 — wanted to get right back to you while I had you. Did I catch you at an okay time?"* **Answer first, payment handled honestly.** *"Good news — yes, it's still here, it's a clean one."* On payment: don't blurt a fake monthly number. *"On payment — the price on that one is [posted price], real and posted. Your actual monthly depends on your trade, your down payment, and your financing, and I can get you exact, in-writing numbers in about fifteen minutes when you're here. You mentioned a trade — I'll get you a real number on that too."* **Bridge + alternate-choice close.** *"Since you need something soon, the smartest move is to drive it and get your trade appraised so you've got real numbers. I've got time this evening around 6, or tomorrow at 11 — which works better?"* Then stop talking. **Confirm-capture-set-expectations (protects show rate).** Repeat the time, confirm the cell + that texting is okay, tell them what to bring (license, title/registration for the trade), give a name to ask for, preview the reminder. *"I'll text the confirmation now and a quick reminder before."* **If no answer:** leave a brief warm voicemail, then send a value-carrying text (consent on file) and/or email with the answer and a walk-around video, and schedule the next attempt as a CRM task. **Log immediately:** appointment time, trade details, timeline ("needs soon"), what you promised — so the in-store handoff (Ch 27) is seamless. **Funnel numbers protected:** the *fast call* protects response time and contact rate; the *transparent answer + bridge* protects set rate; the *confirm/remind close* protects show rate. You've touched four of the five numbers in fifteen minutes.

Scoring Guide

Count your correct answers across all 23 questions (for short-answer and scenario items, give yourself credit if you hit the core points).

  • 21–23 correct (90%+): Excellent. You've got the BDC/internet-sales machinery cold — move on to Chapter 30 with confidence.
  • 17–20 correct (74–87%): Solid. Re-skim the sections behind any you missed — most likely the funnel math (§29.9), the appointment-close steps (§29.5), or the TCPA rules (§29.7).
  • 14–16 correct (61–70%): Passing, but shaky. Reread §29.5 (the call anatomy) and §29.9 (the five numbers and funnel) carefully, then re-take the quiz. These two sections are the heart of the chapter.
  • Below 14 (under 60%): Reread the chapter before proceeding — especially the hook's funnel table, §29.2 (speed-to-lead), §29.5 (the call), and §29.7 (compliance). Then do the Part C skills exercises out loud, and re-take this quiz.

Threshold check: Regardless of score, make sure you can state the chapter's one discipline from memory — set the appointment, don't sell the car on the phone — and explain why speed-to-lead decides whether you're the customer's number one or number five. If those two are solid, you've got the spine of the chapter.