Service BDC Manager

Elmhurst Ford – Service Department
Bensenville, Illinois

Position Overview

Elmhurst Ford is seeking an experienced, motivated, and results-driven Service Business Development Center (BDC) Manager to lead and develop our Service BDC operation.

The Service BDC Manager is responsible for driving service appointment volume, improving customer retention, maximizing declined-service and maintenance opportunities, and ensuring our customers receive a professional and consistent experience from initial contact through their service visit.

This is a hands-on leadership position. The ideal candidate understands dealership fixed operations, is highly comfortable with outbound customer contact, can manage a team through measurable KPIs, and understands that a successful BDC should produce a clear and measurable return on investment for the dealership.

Primary Responsibilities

BDC Leadership & Development

• Recruit, train, coach, and manage Service BDC representatives.
• Establish daily, weekly, and monthly performance expectations.
• Conduct regular call reviews and provide individual coaching.
• Create a positive, competitive, and accountable team environment.
• Develop effective phone, text, and email processes and scripts.
• Ensure representatives are consistently following up with customers and documenting activity.
• Hold the department accountable for both activity and results—not simply call volume.

Appointment Generation & Customer Retention

• Drive inbound and outbound service appointment scheduling.
• Manage follow-up campaigns for:
  • Declined services
  • Overdue maintenance
  • Lost and inactive customers
  • First-service customers
  • Recall opportunities
  • Previously canceled or missed appointments
  • Customers who have not returned within expected service intervals
  • Outside customer and fleet prospect lists
• Develop strategies to reactivate customers who have not serviced with Elmhurst Ford recently.
• Increase appointment volume while maintaining appointment quality and show rates.
• Support customer retention initiatives designed to increase long-term service loyalty.

BDC Performance & ROI

The Service BDC Manager will be expected to manage the department based on measurable results. Key performance indicators may include:

• Appointments scheduled
• Appointments shown
• Appointment show rate
• Repair orders generated
• Customer-pay repair orders
• Declined-service recovery
• Customer retention/reactivation
• Outbound contact and conversion rates
• Revenue and gross profit generated from BDC activity
• Cost per appointment
• Cost per repair order
• Overall BDC return on investment

The Manager will be responsible for regularly reporting BDC performance to Fixed Operations leadership and identifying opportunities to improve productivity, conversion, and profitability.

Xtime & CRM Management

• Utilize Xtime and other dealership systems to manage service opportunities and customer communication.
• Maintain accurate customer records, appointment information, and follow-up activity.
• Create and manage outbound campaigns based on dealership objectives.
• Monitor appointment capacity and work closely with Service Management to maximize shop utilization.
• Ensure campaigns are targeted appropriately based on available technician capacity and dealership needs.
• Track campaign performance from initial contact through completed repair order whenever possible.

Partnership With Service Operations

The Service BDC Manager will work closely with the Fixed Operations Director, Service Managers, Service Advisors, Parts Department, and other dealership leadership.

Responsibilities include:

• Understanding daily and future shop capacity.
• Helping fill open appointment capacity strategically.
• Communicating appointment trends and potential capacity issues.
• Supporting Service Advisors with customer follow-up when appropriate.
• Identifying recurring customer concerns or breakdowns in dealership processes.
• Coordinating campaigns around seasonal maintenance, recalls, declined work, and dealership promotions.
• Ensuring the BDC supports the Service Department rather than simply generating appointment volume without consideration for operational capacity.

Customer Experience Expectations

Every interaction with an Elmhurst Ford customer should be professional, helpful, and focused on building a long-term relationship.

The Service BDC Manager will ensure that representatives:

• Communicate clearly and professionally.
• Accurately set customer expectations.
• Avoid misleading customers simply to secure an appointment.
• Properly document customer concerns.
• Follow through on commitments.
• Handle difficult customer situations professionally.
• Escalate concerns appropriately when management assistance is required.

Qualifications

Preferred qualifications include:

• Previous automotive dealership BDC management experience.
• Service BDC or dealership fixed operations experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with Xtime or comparable dealership scheduling/CRM platforms.
• Strong understanding of dealership service operations.
• Proven ability to manage and develop employees.
• Strong telephone, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to analyze reports and use data to improve performance.
• Strong organizational and follow-up skills.
• Comfortable establishing and enforcing performance standards.
• Ability to work effectively with Service Advisors, technicians, Parts, management, and other dealership departments.
• Strong customer-service and problem-solving abilities.

What Success Looks Like

A successful Service BDC Manager at Elmhurst Ford will build a department that does more than answer phones and schedule appointments.

The BDC should become a measurable revenue-generation and customer-retention operation that:

• Keeps Elmhurst Ford customers returning for service.
• Recaptures previously declined work.
• Reactivates lost customers.
• Creates additional service opportunities.
• Improves shop utilization.
• Supports Service Advisor productivity.
• Produces measurable incremental gross profit.
• Provides leadership with clear reporting demonstrating the BDC's return on investment.

Leadership Expectations

We are looking for a manager who takes ownership of the department and its results. The right candidate will be proactive, organized, competitive, professional, and comfortable being held accountable to measurable performance standards.

The Service BDC Manager should continually look for opportunities to improve processes, develop employees, increase customer retention, and generate additional service business for Elmhurst Ford.

Position: Service BDC Manager
Department: Fixed Operations / Service
Reports To: Fixed Operations Director
Location: Elmhurst Ford – Bensenville, Illinois
Employment Type: Full-Time