Powersports Assistant Service Manager

Fox Powersports Grand Rapids; Wyoming (MI); On-site; USD 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Fox Powersports Grand Rapids is seeking an Assistant Service Manager to help lead the front-of-house operations of our Service Department. This hands-on leadership role focuses on Service Advisor performance, customer experience, repair order progression, communication, scheduling, and overall front-counter workflow.

The Assistant Service Manager will coach Advisors, monitor open and aging repair orders, and ensure timely, accurate documentation in LightSpeed.

Qualifications

• Previous Service Advisor or service management experience preferred.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and organizational skills.
• Excellent customer service and communication abilities.
• Familiarity with dealership service operations and workflow.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily activities and workflow of the Service Advisor team.
• Coach Advisors on customer interactions, follow-up, and time management.
• Monitor repair orders and ensure timely progress and updates.
• Assist with counter coverage during peak periods.
• Maintain organized service write-ups and front-desk area.
• Coordinate communication among advisors, technicians, parts, and management.
• Provide feedback to the Service Manager on performance and training needs.

Skills

Service leadership

Coaching

Customer service

Communication

Front-of-house

Time management

Conflict resolution

Team building

Tools

LightSpeed

Job description

Fox Powersports is seeking an Assistant Service Manager to help lead the front-of-house operations of our Service Department.

This position will focus primarily on Service Advisor performance, customer experience, repair order progression, communication, scheduling, and overall front-counter workflow. The Assistant Service Manager will help ensure customers receive timely, professional communication while also keeping Service Advisors organized, accountable, and focused on moving repair orders efficiently through the department.

This is a hands-on leadership position. In addition to monitoring department activity and coaching the Service Advisor team, the Assistant Service Manager must be comfortable stepping behind the counter and assisting customers when necessary-whether during peak traffic periods, employee days off, vacations, or other coverage needs.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, customer-focused, comfortable managing multiple priorities, and able to lead employees while maintaining a strong sense of urgency.

Primary Responsibilities

Service Advisor Leadership & Accountability

• Help oversee the daily activities and workflow of the Service Advisor team.
• Establish clear expectations for customer communication, follow-up, documentation, and repair order management.
• Monitor Service Advisor activity throughout the day to ensure customers and open repair orders are being actively managed.
• Coach Service Advisors on customer interactions, organization, communication, sales opportunities, and time management.
• Identify repair orders or customers that are not receiving appropriate follow-up and intervene before issues escalates.
• Help train and onboard new Service Advisors.
• Reinforce department processes, procedures, and customer service standards.
• Provide feedback to the Service Manager regarding Advisor performance, training needs, workflow issues, and recurring problems.

Repair Order Progress & Follow-Up

• Routinely review open repair orders to ensure they are progressing through the department.
• Identify ROs that have stalled due to pending authorization, parts, technician updates, warranty approval, customer communication, or other issues.
• Ensure Service Advisors are following up appropriately on aging repair orders.
• Monitor promised completion dates and customer expectations.
• Help coordinate communication between Service Advisors, technicians, Parts, warranty personnel, and Service Management.
• Ensure repair order notes and customer communication are properly documented in LightSpeed.
• Help maintain accurate RO statuses so the department has a clear understanding of where each customer's unit stands.
• Escalate bottlenecks or unusual delays to the Service Manager.

Customer Experience

• Help ensure every Service customer receives professional, timely, and consistent communication.
• Assist with escalated customer concerns and difficult conversations.
• Step in when additional management involvement can help resolve a situation before it becomes a larger customer service issue.
• Review customer concerns and work with Service Advisors and management to develop appropriate solutions.
• Help set realistic customer expectations regarding timelines, parts availability, diagnostics, repairs, and communication.
• Follow up on significant customer concerns when necessary to ensure proper resolution.
• Promote a customer-first environment while balancing dealership policies, profitability, and operational realities.

Service Counter & Advisor Backup

• Act as a working backup for Service Advisors during high-volume periods.
• Cover the Service counter during Advisor days off, vacations, lunches, meetings, or unexpected absences.
• Assist with customer write-ups and vehicle/unit check-ins.
• Create and update repair orders as necessary.
• Review customer concerns and accurately document requested work.
• Contact customers for repair authorizations and updates.
• Assist with completed repair order delivery and customer checkout.
• Help manage incoming Service traffic when multiple customers arrive simultaneously.
• Be capable of carrying an Advisor workload temporarily when department staffing requires it.

Phone & Communication Management

• Monitor incoming Service Department phone activity.
• Ensure calls are being answered promptly and professionally.
• Monitor missed calls, abandoned calls, voicemails, and outstanding customer callbacks.
• Ensure Service Advisors are returning customer messages within established department expectations.
• Identify patterns involving excessive missed calls, delayed callbacks, or communication breakdowns.
• Assist with incoming calls when call volume exceeds available Advisor capacity.
• Help establish accountability for phone and voicemail follow-up.
• Monitor communication activity to ensure customers are not repeatedly calling because they have not received an update.

Scheduling & Front-of-House Workflow

• Help manage the Service appointment schedule and Advisor workload.
• Monitor incoming appointments against available department capacity.
• Help prevent overbooking or unrealistic customer promises.
• Coordinate with the Service Manager regarding shop capacity, technician availability, and workload.
• Review upcoming appointments to identify potential parts, information, or preparation needs before the customer arrives.
• Help manage drop-offs, waiters, scheduled work, carryover work, and unexpected customer arrivals.
• Maintain an organized and professional Service write-up and customer reception area.

Daily Management Activities

The Assistant Service Manager should routinely monitor:

• Open and aging repair orders
• ROs awaiting customer authorization
• ROs awaiting Advisor follow-up
• Units awaiting technician updates
• Units awaiting parts
• Promised completion dates
• Customers requiring updates
• Today's scheduled appointments and drop-offs
• Upcoming appointments requiring preparation
• Missed and unanswered Service calls
• Outstanding voicemails and callbacks
• Advisor workload and open RO counts
• Customer escalations or unresolved concerns
• Completed units awaiting customer pickup
• Repair orders requiring final documentation or closure

Qualifications

• Previous Service Advisor, Service Management, automotive, powersports, or related customer service management experience preferred.
• Strong leadership and coaching abilities.
• Excellent customer service and conflict-resolution skills.
• Strong organizational and time-management abilities.
• Comfortable managing multiple customers, employees, repair orders, and priorities simultaneously.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to hold employees accountable while maintaining a positive team environment.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-volume Service Department.
• Experience with dealership management systems preferred; LightSpeed experience is a plus.
• Basic understanding of dealership Service operations, repair orders, scheduling, parts coordination, and technician workflow preferred.