Digital Dealer - August 2017 - 21

INTERVIEW

Joe Wajda began

his career in the automotive
industry in 2003 with the DCH Automotive Group in New
Jersey as a sales consultant, before becoming a finance director
of three dealerships in Long Island, NY. In 2005, he became the
General Sales Manager at World Jeep Subaru. In 2011, World
Subaru and World Jeep Chrysler Dodge Ram were divided
into separate rooftops. Today, he is the Executive Manager of
both operations. World Subaru is a recent three-time winner
of Subaru's prestigious Stellar Care Award, and finished 5th in
the nation in certified pre-owned sales in 2016. Joe was elected
to the 2017 class of Automotive News 40 under 40.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS LO BUE

In the following interview, Joe
discusses his previous career as a
professional musician-he played
piano on Broadway for the musical
"Wicked" during its opening run-
as well as his career in the auto
retail industry. He shares his dealership management and marketing
insights and reveals what's ahead
for the World dealerships.

THANKS FOR AGREEING TO
TALK WITH US TODAY, JOE.
WE OFTEN LIKE TO START AN
INTERVIEW ASKING ABOUT
A DEALER'S BACKGROUND
IN THE INDUSTRY. IN YOUR
CASE, HOWEVER, YOU HAD
AN AMAZING EARLY CAREER
AS A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN. SO FIRST, I INVITE YOU
TO TALK ABOUT YOUR WORK
AS A MUSICIAN AND THEN
WE'LL DIVE INTO YOUR AUTOMOTIVE BACKGROUND.

I was always musical and started
playing the piano when I was five. I
played through high school. I went
to Westminster Choir College in
Princeton for music, and for me it
was either music or law, those were
the two things I was interested in. I
wasn't a particularly great student,
probably because I was busy playing

with local groups. So, I went the
music route. As I continued my
studies I started making connections in The City. I had worked a little at Paper Mill Playhouse, which is
a large theater up in northern New
Jersey. Started making connections
here and there and got to the point
where I was applying myself in The
City working on different things,
playing auditions, helping with
cast albums, doing productions
in New Jersey, etc. I took a break
from college thinking that I would
go back but nobody does. I started
working full-time jobbing, here and
there, and I had met the composer
of Wicked at Paper Mill Playhouse
in 2000. I edited his songbook for
Warner Brothers the following year.
Just doing a bunch of jobbing, I
probably had about twenty 1099s
when I was in my early twenties. As
a result of some of those connections I made I ended up being a
substitute keyboard player for the
Broadway production of Wicked in
2004.

HOW DID YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THEATRE AND MUSIC
HELP PREPARE YOU FOR
RUNNING TWO SUCCESSFUL
DEALERSHIPS?

I'm a big team guy. I try to say
"we" before I say "I." Doing a production, doing a show, is a completely collaborative effort. Between
a director or a choreographer or a
musical director, a stage manager,
a set designer, a lighting designer, a
sound designer, and an entire cast
of people, you are either functioning
as a team or your show will fail. So,
if I take a show and apply it to a
dealership, if there's a component
of your dealership that's not working, your dealership is not going
to fire on all cylinders. I would say
the biggest lesson that I took away
from my theatrical experience was
that it takes a team for something to
succeed.

YOU STARTED AS A SALESPERSON FOR A SATURN
FRANCHISE AND ARE NOW
THE EXECUTIVE MANAGER OF
WORLD SUBARU AND WORLD
JEEP CHRYSLER DODGE RAM.
WHAT DEALERSHIP OR MANAGEMENT LESSONS HAVE
YOU LEARNED ALONG THE
WAY?

It's one-hundred percent about
the customer and one-hundred
percent about the employee. The

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

Continued on pg. 22
AUGUST 2017

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