How a U.S. Marine veteran’s service helps inform his leadership today

Manny Sedano didn't always plan to sell cars.

The San Diego native joined the Marines after high school in 1991, serving until 1995.

He intended to enter law enforcement after, but an unexpected part-time job put the brakes on that.

Some background: Sedano started selling vehicles in June 1995 at Puente Hills/Leo Hoffman Chevrolet in L.A., where his family friend, the late Bob Fernandez, worked.

He rose quickly from sales to finance to sales manager, then general sales management at that store, before leaving L.A. in 2006.

That’s when he purchased a Payless Car Sales used-vehicle dealership in Bakersfield, Calif., and formed Sedano Automotive Group.

Now, the veteran owns five dealerships.

Manny Sedano and a fellow serviceman are seen in this full-frame shot of the photo at top left. The photos here and at right (below for mobile viewers) were taken in the Indian Ocean off Somalia’s coast in October 1993.
(Photos courtesy Manny Sedano)

The ship arrived about one week after the Battle of Mogadishu, after a ceasefire had been called. Sedano’s unit went there for practice coordination with fighter jets and soft targets.

Here’s more on how the lessons Sedano learned in the military translate into auto retail.

Leading the way: Sedano said his group’s vision, boiled down, is “to do the right thing all the time for our customers” and that he models leadership at his stores similar to his time in the service.

"I think it’s a lot of chain of command stuff,” Sedano told Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc. “Somebody has to cast that stone and provide the leadership, and everybody else needs to follow, so we have at every store general managers and department heads that follow that vision.”

Speaking of: Sedano's Leadership Lab brings all department heads together for exercises in collaboration, vulnerability, and communication, because he believes the biggest threat to a dealership isn't the market, but internal forces.

"Office politics, where you spend so much time working on inner company drama than you do in providing solutions for our customers," he said, is something he aims to eliminate.

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The labs force managers who have never spoken in front of a group to present their weaknesses out loud and work through friction with other departments, such as the chronic divide between sales and service.

How he runs it:

Get all department heads in the same room to inspire collaboration, not just co-existence.
Have managers put their feelings and vulnerabilities on paper and present them to the group out loud.
Break down the wall between sales and service by forcing them to articulate what they like and don't like about each other's departments.
Always train your replacement. Information should flow down, not be hoarded, Sedano explained.

Beyond that: He primarily measures culture success by retention of sales staff, service advisors, and technicians.

"People don't quit the company, they quit the manager," Sedano said.

Auto retailer and U.S. Marine veteran Manny Sedano at a pinning ceremony for a promotion sometime between 1993 and 1994, Sedano said, in the Mediterranean Sea. (Photo courtesy Manny Sedano)

Sedano has a targeted mission for retaining customers, too.

On the trade cycle: He aims to keep customers in the OEM captive ecosystem.

With captive penetration rates around 60%, he said dealerships have a predictable pipeline of returning customers, but only if they protect it.

"You're going to have in a given month, let's say 100 vehicles coming back at you 100 times; you don't have to go to an auction," Sedano said.

How he protects it:

Stick to OEM captives: the minute a customer finances elsewhere, they get marketed by someone else's brand.
Don’t let terms balloon out to 96 or 121 months, or you’ll break the cycle.
Reach out at 90 days for new customers with multi-point inspections to establish an early service relationship.
Use mobile service vans to help stay in touch.

And while those customers are in the dealer’s orbit, Sedano suggests spicing up the F&I offerings.

Here’s why: With front-end margins compressed, Sedano said F&I has become a lifeline, but only if dealers start matching products to the customer's actual situation.

How he thinks about it:

Expand beyond finance reserve and service contracts. Think windshield protection, key replacement, gap, and surface care.
On high-lease brands such as Volkswagen, traditional products don't always fit, so find the right mix for the customer's situation.

"There's plenty of different products to be able to offer the customer that are of value and benefit to them, and also something that we can sustain profitability," Sedano said.

Bottom line: After more than 30 years, the marine veteran has become an auto retail veteran, too, sharing his overall thoughts on the industry, military service, and the American Dream.

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“Nothing is free,” Sedano said. “You have to sacrifice time, and time away from family, and time in that business when it's yours.”