Latest / Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam / A Coffee with Chad Zender from Zender Ford

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A Coffee with Chad Zender from Zender Ford · Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam

• 0:13
  Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 0:18
  My name is Cam Milliken, and I am here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association.
• 0:26
  Hi, Jennifer.
• 0:28
  Well, hello, Cam, and happy 2025.
• 0:30
  Yes, happy new year to you as well.
• 0:32
  Did you have a good Christmas?
• 0:33
  I had a great Christmas, did you?
• 0:35
  Right on, oh, it was a good Christmas, that's for sure.
• 0:37
  Now, you were in Saskatchewan.
• 0:39
  I was, yes.
• 0:40
  That's right, up to your knees in snow.
• 0:43
  That's right, that's awesome, that's great.
• 0:46
  And so before we go any further, I'm just going to give a shout out to your mom.
• 0:51
  Your mom sent me some butterhorns for Christmas.
• 0:55
  Okay, Jennifer's mom, if you're listening, those were amazing.
• 1:00
  I ate them all pretty much in one day, in one setting, and they were incredible.
• 1:05
  So thank you for the butterhorns, they were fantastic.
• 1:08
  Anyway, we're in to 2025.
• 1:11
  We are.
• 1:11
  This is unbelievable.
• 1:12
  I know.
• 1:12
  Incredible.
• 1:13
  And we got some people we want to thank for us being able to do this.
• 1:17
  Well, I'm excited for this because we're adding another name to our Gold Corporate Sponsor Thank You List for 2025.
• 1:25
  Right on.
• 1:26
  So we would like to thank our Gold Corporate Sponsors, which include the MyShak Group of Companies, Genics, Parkland County, and now Bow Valley Credit Union here in Acheson.
• 1:35
  That's awesome.
• 1:36
  Thank you, Bow Valley, for coming on board.
• 1:38
  You guys all make this happen for us, and we really, really appreciate it.
• 1:41
  And we need to mention that we are coming to you from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson.
• 1:50
  That's right.
• 1:51
  So if you hear some noises in the background, maybe some coffee machines whirring, some kids screaming, although I don't see any kids in here today.
• 1:57
  So I think we're all right with that.
• 1:59
  It's because we are doing this live in the coffee shop.
• 2:02
  And hopefully many of you made it out to the coffee shop during Christmas.
• 2:06
  Were they open during Christmas?
• 2:07
  I think Michael closed.
• 2:08
  Michael closed during Christmas.
• 2:10
  Okay.
• 2:10
  Well, New Year, come to a coffee shop.
• 2:13
  Yeah.
• 2:13
  Check it out.
• 2:14
  You'll want to check out the Wall Coffee Roasters for sure.
• 2:17
  Anyway, I'm very excited about our guest today.
• 2:20
  Jennifer, tell us.
• 2:21
  Well, Cam, I'm excited about our guest today too.
• 2:25
  Today's guest is Mr.
• 2:26
  Chad Zender, the president of Zender Ford in Spruce Grove.
• 2:31
  Welcome, Chad.
• 2:32
  Welcome, Chad.
• 2:33
  Thank you.
• 2:33
  Good to have you here.
• 2:34
  So anybody who's driven through Spruce Grove, down 16A, if you're going west on the left-hand side is Zender Ford.
• 2:44
  Yeah, 40 years actually.
• 2:45
  40 years.
• 2:46
  Same location.
• 2:47
  That's fantastic.
• 2:47
  40 years as ownership of the Zender family.
• 2:50
  Wow, that's incredible.
• 2:52
  40 years.
• 2:53
  I can't even imagine Spruce Grove 40 years ago.
• 2:57
  The change is, you probably see an amazing change.
• 2:59
  Yeah, it's about four times larger, maybe five times larger than it was, including Stony Plain and Parkland County.
• 3:04
  Yeah.
• 3:04
  And yeah, just, I mean, we were talking about it before we came on air.
• 3:08
  I mean, you know, it used to be just one stop sign or one street lights.
• 3:13
  Exactly.
• 3:14
  Now it's like 40,000 people.
• 3:15
  Yeah, 40,000 people.
• 3:17
  And you know, it's a bustling area.
• 3:20
  Incredible.
• 3:21
  Great place to have a business.
• 3:22
  Yeah, for sure.
• 3:22
  Awesome.
• 3:23
  For many years.
• 3:24
  Okay, so Chad, tell us a little bit about yourself and where you grew up.
• 3:29
  Well, actually, I did grow up locally.
• 3:30
  I grew up just south of Spruce Grove.
• 3:32
  I call myself a Parkland County boy.
• 3:34
  Right on.
• 3:35
  You know, just by the Devon Botanic Gardens.
• 3:39
  Oh, okay.
• 3:39
  Yeah.
• 3:40
  My parents purchased an acreage out there in 1971, and we grew up there.
• 3:45
  And so my life was all around Spruce Grove.
• 3:49
  The Devon area kind of was a little bit of my home as well.
• 3:54
  And yeah, you know, Spruce, Stony and basically Parkland County.
• 3:58
  I know every back road in Parkland County, south of Spruce Grove.
• 4:03
  Right on.
• 4:03
  South of Spruce Grove.
• 4:04
  I live on an acreage as well.
• 4:05
  Cool.
• 4:06
  Where did you go to high school?
• 4:07
  I went out in Devon, actually.
• 4:09
  Oh, Devon.
• 4:10
  I grew up in Graminia School.
• 4:13
  My grade was the first grade to go from K to 9.
• 4:16
  Oh, wow.
• 4:17
  Yeah.
• 4:17
  And just back in that day, most people, because of the busing, went to Devon.
• 4:22
  Right.
• 4:22
  In the high school, just because that's where the buses went.
• 4:24
  Right.
• 4:25
  A lot came into this.
• 4:26
  Some came into Spruce Grove, but it was a little harder.
• 4:28
  Right.
• 4:28
  And Devon, that's another community that's grown leaps and bounds.
• 4:31
  Yeah.
• 4:32
  Very much so.
• 4:32
  I mean, it boomed in the 50s and 60s, and it kind of stayed the same size.
• 4:36
  And, you know, and it's so, you know, you know, oil and gas is every one of my friends' dads worked in the oil and gas industry or something.
• 4:45
  Yeah.
• 4:45
  Yeah.
• 4:46
  Trucking or something related to something related to that.
• 4:49
  So that's the good old days.
• 4:51
  The good old days of oil and gas.
• 4:54
  Yeah.
• 4:54
  The good old days.
• 4:55
  So what did your dad do?
• 4:56
  What did your parents do?
• 4:58
  Well, my dad, he purchased the dealership in 1984.
• 5:01
  Before that, he was the general manager of Western Mack Truck, which is still called Norttrux nowadays.
• 5:11
  You know, at the time, there was eight branch offices in Alberta of Western Mack Trucks in the 19 late 70s and 80s.
• 5:19
  He was also involved in, he did that for a period of time.
• 5:24
  That's what got him into the business, because he was headhunted by Ford, because Zender Ford had a heavy truck component to it, and they weren't selling very well.
• 5:35
  It was in 1984, a couple of years after, you know, their early 80s crash, Alberta was not doing very good.
• 5:43
  Nobody wanted to buy a Ford dealership in Spruce Grove that had heavy trucks for two years in stock.
• 5:48
  Yeah, so he got from that.
• 5:51
  But he was also involved in, he was a business graduate, business guy through and through.
• 5:56
  He was involved in a lot of things.
• 5:58
  He was involved in some condo developments and selling condos in the 70s.
• 6:03
  At one point, you know, crashed and lost everything.
• 6:07
  He has a famous story about that, and then rejigged and kind of, you know, did some other stuff, and somehow found this Ford dealership in Spruce Grove.
• 6:16
  Awesome.
• 6:17
  And at a time, you know, we went through our 40th anniversary.
• 6:21
  We've been looking back, so I found the original purchase agreement.
• 6:24
  So the interest rate on the loan is 14.9%.
• 6:28
  Can you?
• 6:30
  Yeah.
• 6:30
  Those were the days.
• 6:31
  Oh, my goodness.
• 6:32
  Pretty normal.
• 6:33
  Yeah.
• 6:33
  Yeah.
• 6:34
  And we know why a lot of businesses went under, because they just couldn't.
• 6:37
  Nobody could do it, right?
• 6:39
  And so he had to really, really hustle hard and make it work.
• 6:43
  And he couldn't try to make it work.
• 6:45
  You know, Zender Ford really grew with with Spruce Grove.
• 6:47
  Right.
• 6:48
  So Chad graduated from high school.
• 6:50
  Then what?
• 6:51
  Went right into the family business?
• 6:52
  Or what happened?
• 6:54
  No, I went to university.
• 6:56
  Actually, I chose to go away.
• 6:57
  Okay.
• 6:58
  Where did you go?
• 6:58
  I went to University of Victoria.
• 6:59
  Come on, UVic.
• 7:00
  That's pretty awesome.
• 7:01
  Yeah.
• 7:03
  And I have my BCom from UVic.
• 7:05
  More, you know, how I ended up there and why.
• 7:07
  I don't know.
• 7:08
  It just...
• 7:09
  Called me.. 18 years old and why I went.
• 7:12
  I just want to go away.
• 7:13
  On the island.
• 7:13
  Go away, you know.
• 7:15
  I tried, you know, UVic.
• 7:16
  Gone.
• 7:17
  And, you know, maybe Someday my daughters, I hope they go to UVic.
• 7:19
  Yeah.
• 7:21
  So I went there for...
• 7:23
  I got my university degree and actually moved to Vancouver.
• 7:25
  Okay.
• 7:26
  And I was an investment advisor for a little bit.
• 7:30
  You know, trying to get people's money to invest and make a percentage off that and sell life insurance and all that stuff.
• 7:35
  And so I was growing that.
• 7:37
  And really for me, it came when I was in my teens, and even when I was in university, every summer I would come back and work in the business.
• 7:45
  Right.
• 7:46
  We had a couple of businesses, so I'd work in multiple different parts of the business.
• 7:51
  You know, kind of knew everything about business, always wanted to be in business.
• 7:56
  And one day I remember I was trying to get some money from a car dealer friend of my dad's, because you know, when you want to invest money, you go after the people that have money.
• 8:07
  Or will take your call, really, because you're just a young guy, you know, what do you write?
• 8:12
  So, and I remember sitting there thinking, you know, trying to talk to him and going over it.
• 8:17
  I just think to myself, I want to be on that side of the table.
• 8:19
  You know, this is fun to be an investment advisor, but that sounds way better.
• 8:26
  Way more fun.
• 8:26
  And just, you know, they say when you have car, the gasoline in your veins, you just kind of, it's hard to get away from it.
• 8:33
  So before we go any further, tell us about the Zender family.
• 8:37
  So there's mom and dad, there's Chad, there's...
• 8:41
  My sister, who's our partner.
• 8:43
  Right.
• 8:43
  My partner in the whole thing, Codie.
• 8:47
  And she's the CFO of the company.
• 8:50
  Right.
• 8:51
  And then I have my late brother, who passed away last year.
• 8:55
  Yes.
• 8:56
  Unfortunately, of cancer.
• 8:57
  Right.
• 8:57
  And he was the partner of ours.
• 8:59
  Okay.
• 9:00
  We own a company called Zender Auto Group, which actually owns a couple of dealerships.
• 9:04
  Oh, okay.
• 9:04
  And a couple of businesses related to the car industry.
• 9:09
  You know, we're investors in other things.
• 9:11
  Right.
• 9:11
  And then, so really, right now, it's me.
• 9:15
  Me and my sister are the two principals.
• 9:17
  Okay.
• 9:18
  We run the whole Zender Auto Group.
• 9:21
  I'm the dealer principal of both companies, both of our car dealerships.
• 9:25
  In name, in Zender Ford, I'm the dealer principal and president, so I'm more actively involved in the day-to-day operations there.
• 9:32
  Right.
• 9:33
  We have a partner at other store out in Hinton called Big Rock Dodge.
• 9:36
  Okay.
• 9:37
  And so he's a managing person who runs that, and does a very good job managing that out there.
• 9:45
  And then, yeah, and my sister is our CFO.
• 9:48
  My dad and my mom are still around.
• 9:51
  They travel down south as most snowbirds do.
• 9:54
  The snowbird, life, you gotta love it.
• 9:57
  Yeah.
• 9:58
  Well deserved, though.
• 9:58
  Yeah.
• 9:59
  Well deserved.
• 10:00
  He's functionally retired from the business.
• 10:01
  Yeah, for sure.
• 10:03
  And has been for operational.
• 10:05
  But I bet he's a phone call away.
• 10:06
  Oh, yeah.
• 10:07
  Yeah.
• 10:07
  We talk a lot of times.
• 10:08
  You know, we have, you know, he's an old school guy.
• 10:10
  He likes to phone.
• 10:11
  Yeah.
• 10:12
  Just, you know, every, every, you know, Monday or Friday.
• 10:14
  Check up on you.
• 10:15
  You know, still this day at the end of the month, phones and says, how's the month going?
• 10:17
  Yeah.
• 10:18
  Good.
• 10:18
  Just understand.
• 10:19
  It's in his blood.
• 10:20
  Yeah.
• 10:20
  Oh, you know, this and that, you know, the car's in this and, you know, margins are this and.
• 10:24
  Oh, yeah.
• 10:25
  Good.
• 10:25
  And so it's, so that's, that's the family dynamic.
• 10:28
  Okay.
• 10:29
  You know, we, back when I decided to come into the business, we had a big family meeting probably around, oh, I don't know, 2002, right?
• 10:41
  When we were younger and at that point, my brother was in the business and my sister was in the business.
• 10:46
  She had just come in as our controller.
• 10:48
  We had a controller retire and she had just graduated from U of A for BCom.
• 10:53
  And she's kind of the accounting brain of the family.
• 10:57
  So it was kind of really fit well.
• 10:58
  Yeah.
• 10:59
  And when I decided to come back in, I had a conversation with my dad and, you know, said, you know, let's like to do this and this and that.
• 11:06
  And before this, he never pressured any of us to come into the business.
• 11:10
  Was it hard to leave Vancouver?
• 11:11
  I was going to say, yeah.
• 11:12
  Oh, yeah, it was hard.
• 11:13
  Yeah, yeah.
• 11:14
  I know.
• 11:14
  I lived there for 30 years.
• 11:15
  Yeah, very hard.
• 11:17
  And I had friends out there.
• 11:18
  Yeah.
• 11:19
  Very, very, yeah, definitely difficult.
• 11:21
  You know, I always say that the weekend I left Vancouver is 30 degrees.
• 11:25
  Which if you're from Vancouver, it's never 30 degrees in Vancouver.
• 11:28
  Driving home to Edmonton.
• 11:30
  That's a heat wave in the summer.
• 11:32
  Yeah, that is.
• 11:32
  And I came back to Edmonton and actually it was April 30th when I left Vancouver.
• 11:37
  And I remember there was a May first week snowstorm in Edmonton.
• 11:42
  I remember driving around.
• 11:44
  It wasn't in Acheson, but it was in an industrial commercial park in Spruce Grove.
• 11:50
  Driving around, going around and giving cards out.
• 11:52
  And thinking to myself, like, what am I doing?
• 11:55
  What do you do?
• 11:56
  So it was a big deal for you to leave.
• 11:58
  It was a big deal.
• 11:58
  For you, it was a big deal.
• 12:00
  I think it was a big functional, you know, huge, you know.
• 12:04
  And, you know, but when I did it, you know, came home, we had a big family meeting and okay, this is how it's going to go and how we're going to work it out.
• 12:12
  And we're just, you know, coming to the business and make sure you like it and that we succeed at it.
• 12:16
  Yeah.
• 12:17
  And if you do, then we'll start the process of, you know, kids will buy you out and, you know, how's that going to look and...
• 12:24
  That succession, right?
• 12:25
  Yeah, we had a succession.
• 12:26
  And we were part of the...
• 12:29
  We joined up with the Alberta Family Business Institute at U of A.
• 12:32
  Okay, yeah.
• 12:33
  And really kind of embraced that, like, culture of just, you know, if you're going to have a family transition, how should it go?
• 12:41
  Right.
• 12:41
  You know, because a lot of families don't do it correctly.
• 12:43
  And we just felt like it's...
• 12:45
  Let's just get everything on the table and just start working towards it.
• 12:48
  And, you know, kind of here we are, you know.
• 12:50
  Smart.
• 12:51
  That's a whole other podcast.
• 12:53
  But we talk a lot about succession and business.
• 12:55
  Yes.
• 12:55
  And Chad, what you're saying, I mean, yeah.
• 12:58
  People need to hear sort of your processes in doing this.
• 13:01
  Because some people leave it way too late.
• 13:04
  And, you know, then there's real problems.
• 13:06
  But that's all, like I say, that's a that's a whole other podcast.
• 13:09
  So were you were you married in Vancouver?
• 13:11
  Ah, my wife?
• 13:14
  Well, we weren't married then.
• 13:15
  She was living with me in Vancouver.
• 13:16
  Yeah, she's from the coast.
• 13:18
  No, she's actually an American.
• 13:20
  Oh, I met her on a university exchange.
• 13:23
  Yeah, one did a study abroad.
• 13:25
  Yeah, we met and she was OK with you coming to Edmonton.
• 13:29
  You know, she liked Vancouver.
• 13:33
  She's an American from a small town Midwest.
• 13:35
  Yeah, living in Vancouver.
• 13:37
  Yeah, and we lived in a, you know, in a crappy apartment, but it was two blocks from the beach.
• 13:42
  I mean, it was a pretty good situation.
• 13:45
  And, you know, but she, you know, I convinced her to come, come here and come to Edmonton and follow me.
• 13:52
  And, you know, let's set up a family and let's see what we can do here.
• 13:55
  So she survived the first winter.
• 13:57
  That was the first sign.
• 13:58
  Right there.
• 13:58
  Yeah, she made it.
• 14:00
  Definitely, you know, it's touch and go sometimes.
• 14:03
  Yeah, we managed to do it.
• 14:05
  Good, good.
• 14:06
  And we're still together.
• 14:07
  And, you know, well, that's the most important thing.
• 14:10
  She's still put up with me.
• 14:11
  You have to take her back to Vancouver often.
• 14:13
  Yeah, sometimes we go back and visit.
• 14:16
  And yeah, she still definitely puts up with me.
• 14:18
  Yeah, no, I know.
• 14:19
  Like I said, I lived there 30 years.
• 14:21
  And it's a great place.
• 14:23
  You know, I love everything to grow up here, but Vancouver was nice.
• 14:26
  Yeah, different, different places.
• 14:29
  So Chad, how have you seen the business change over the years since you first got in to now?
• 14:35
  Yeah.
• 14:37
  Well, I mean, it's very similar, I would say that, because we still sell cars and we still service cars.
• 14:43
  And really the evolution of the vehicle is much more advanced.
• 14:49
  I mean, they're just so much nicer than they were 20 years ago.
• 14:53
  Very, you know, my F150 that I drive today is just so nice.
• 14:57
  And I mean, you can do everything.
• 14:58
  They were so nice back in 2002.
• 15:01
  Cars can do everything now.
• 15:02
  Like, I'm surprised they can't make toast, but I'm sure that's coming.
• 15:06
  It's incredible what they can do.
• 15:08
  Yeah, definitely.
• 15:09
  So that for you guys, that for a dealership must be an incredible sort of osmosis of change ongoing.
• 15:16
  It's always, I think we take it for granted.
• 15:18
  You know, the new 2025 model comes out with a brand new engine that we've never seen before, and we just have to get good at understanding it.
• 15:25
  Yeah.
• 15:26
  Because it's going to break.
• 15:27
  Yes, of course.
• 15:28
  You know, one thing I've always known, I mean, a new vehicle comes out, I mean, it's going to be an issue right away with not all of them, but there's always something.
• 15:35
  Yeah, there's always something.
• 15:36
  Because there's more to go wrong.
• 15:37
  Yeah, and it comes out, and our technicians, they've never seen this engine before in their life.
• 15:41
  Right.
• 15:41
  But they have to fix it.
• 15:42
  How do you keep up?
• 15:43
  They just have to, we hire, I, you know, the technicians, I think, are the smartest people in our business.
• 15:48
  Yeah.
• 15:48
  Because they are, they can pull apart an engine and put it back together and just figure it out.
• 15:52
  Yeah.
• 15:52
  They download a 50 page manual on how to fix it, and they figure it out.
• 15:56
  And that's what they do.
• 15:57
  Yeah.
• 15:58
  And that's the change that they just learn by, so that by the time a vehicle kind of, you know, is within its fifth year of production, it's out in the street, we know exactly what's going on with our vehicle and can fix it.
• 16:11
  And, you know, it's just, that's how we kind of, it's constant.
• 16:14
  Was it easier to sell cars 40 years ago than today, or is it easier today than 40 years ago?
• 16:19
  Or is it about the same?
• 16:20
  I think it's about the same.
• 16:21
  I think what's different now is just the shopping habits of people.
• 16:24
  It's a little bit more digital.
• 16:26
  Right.
• 16:26
  You know, the old way was you would physically go to three to four locations to buy a vehicle.
• 16:32
  Yeah.
• 16:32
  You know, physically would walk into a store and start that process.
• 16:38
  And then you go and you go to another store and you go to, you know, the most most people went to about three to four nowadays.
• 16:44
  What they do is they just contact three to four entities or dealerships via, you know, the digital mechanisms.
• 16:51
  Right.
• 16:51
  Sure.
• 16:52
  And so it's still the same relationship building with people, but it's just in a different, right, a different way.
• 16:57
  Right.
• 16:58
  Yeah.
• 16:59
  I mean, yeah, it's certainly, I'm sure certainly has changed media and technology and all of those things.
• 17:05
  The way people shop is very different than it was.
• 17:08
  So let's go back.
• 17:09
  So you had the family meeting, you decided you're all gonna come into the business, the succession plan is gonna happen.
• 17:15
  How long until your dad decided he needed to be down south more?
• 17:19
  Probably at the time, he was running another store, a heavy truck dealership in Edmonton, a couple of Western Sterling Trucks.
• 17:26
  Okay.
• 17:27
  And, you know, he had a couple other things going on.
• 17:30
  So really, as soon as we came into the business, me and my brother, within about a year, ended up as being the sales managers.
• 17:37
  And in the car business, the sales managers are the guys on the floor working the hours and they run the whole thing.
• 17:42
  You know, I mean, it's...
• 17:44
  And so really quickly, he was involved, but he wasn't there a lot in the day.
• 17:49
  He kind of...
• 17:50
  One of the things about my dad is he's good at, when it's time to move on, you know, we talk about, we were having the conversation with our Prime Minister right now.
• 17:59
  Right, right, yeah.
• 17:59
  You know, my dad's kind of the opposite.
• 18:02
  When he sees the writing on the wall and says, Good for your dad.
• 18:05
  Can we vote for your dad for Prime Minister?
• 18:07
  Because ours did.
• 18:08
  Anyway, that's another whole podcast right there.
• 18:11
  And at the time, you know, on the young, you know, late 20s kind of piss and vinegar sales manager, I know everything.
• 18:20
  So I was like, oh, yeah, I'll take care of it.
• 18:21
  Don't worry, dad, I got it.
• 18:23
  Now looking back on it, he would have to bite his tongue a lot.
• 18:25
  And then just say, you know what?
• 18:27
  Yeah, okay, you make your mistakes and I'll just stand here and watch it.
• 18:31
  But good for your dad.
• 18:32
  And I think that's hard to do.
• 18:33
  Yeah, I was going to say, that must have been difficult.
• 18:35
  Yeah, and I think about myself, you know, I have kids too that maybe I'll be in this thing.
• 18:39
  I mean, I'm thinking to myself, how am I going to stand there and watch this happen?
• 18:43
  But I'm going to have to and see how it all plays out.
• 18:47
  But so, yeah, so it was about, oh, probably took about five to seven years, kind of around actually the financial crisis in 2008-2009.
• 18:56
  That was a big transition in our industry.
• 18:59
  And that's when we kind of Ford, didn't go bankrupt, actually went the other way.
• 19:04
  And that's when we said, okay, now we're starting, let's really move this forward.
• 19:08
  Right.
• 19:09
  And kind of the early 2010s kind of took over full operations, official dealer principle.
• 19:16
  Yeah.
• 19:16
  Now, in our business, you have to be approved by the manufacturer to be a dealer.
• 19:21
  To stay as a dealer.
• 19:22
  Yeah, you could.
• 19:22
  Right.
• 19:23
  There's a lot of times that families try to succeed and the manufacturer says no.
• 19:27
  Sure.
• 19:27
  So then it's a problem.
• 19:29
  So, I'm going to ask you, I'm just going to bring this up, because sometimes car salesmen, they have a bad rep sometimes.
• 19:37
  You know, like, I think I read a survey one time that said that like, out of professions, car salesmen are like way down here.
• 19:45
  But I think that's changed.
• 19:46
  Yeah.
• 19:46
  Is that true?
• 19:47
  Like, I think so.
• 19:49
  You know, I think the whole way of selling has changed.
• 19:51
  I think it's really what's changed about the car sales is that it's all been put onto social media.
• 19:57
  Yeah.
• 19:57
  And become the car sales person.
• 20:00
  You have a guy.
• 20:00
  You hire a guy to do your social media.
• 20:02
  Yeah, a marketing guy.
• 20:03
  And we also have individual salespeople to create their own personas on social media just in order to market themselves.
• 20:10
  Right.
• 20:11
  Micro marketing.
• 20:12
  And then there's, I mean, there's thousands of examples of salespeople that have become stars across North America.
• 20:20
  And really what it's done is it's shown that there's a lot of personalities in the car business.
• 20:25
  And then, you know, it's brought it out more to the forefront.
• 20:28
  Sure.
• 20:28
  And so there's a little bit more professional.
• 20:30
  More professional.
• 20:30
  Yeah.
• 20:30
  I think salesmen have moved up the ladder a little bit.
• 20:33
  There's a lot more.
• 20:34
  I would agree with you.
• 20:34
  I think, you know, in the past, you had to get a new car and you're thinking, oh, yeah, you know, the slick back hair guy.
• 20:43
  No, but it's not like that anymore.
• 20:44
  Well, it goes back to lawyers are still way down here.
• 20:47
  Just that's what I read.
• 20:48
  Lawyers are still way down here, but car salespeople, they're essential too.
• 20:55
  Most people own five cars in their lifetime or more, so they're going to be interacting with somebody.
• 21:00
  Absolutely.
• 21:01
  And that's what they're trying to find is somebody they can interact with, that they trust.
• 21:06
  And it's a huge thing.
• 21:07
  I mean, there's a lot more transparency in cars now with pricing and everything.
• 21:12
  But cars and the pricing of it and the financing of it is incredibly complicated.
• 21:18
  I feel that most, you have to do a lot of research to really understand, you know, what's the difference between an F-150 302A package and a 301A package, and why is it 60 months at 2.9% and it's 72 months at 3.2%, all that stuff.
• 21:35
  And so you need somebody or an entity or a business that you kind of trust, that if they say the price is this and this is what the payment is, well, is that actually what it is?
• 21:45
  Is that what it is?
• 21:45
  And so customer service is huge.
• 21:48
  It's very huge.
• 21:50
  So I'm going to say I creeped Zender Ford last night online because I wanted to see.
• 21:56
  And you guys have a remarkable rating.
• 21:59
  We put a lot of time into it.
• 22:01
  Like I looked at a number of sites and I just don't look for the stars.
• 22:06
  I want to read the comments.
• 22:07
  And you guys seem to do, from everything I read online, an exceptional job of customer service.
• 22:14
  Yeah, and we really try to.
• 22:16
  And like it's interesting, I have a manager meeting tomorrow.
• 22:19
  And the first thing we always talk about our manager meeting is our Google rating.
• 22:23
  Because it's a huge accountability factor to our employees.
• 22:27
  About, hey, Mrs.
• 22:28
  Johnson just had an oil change and she wrote a review.
• 22:31
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:32
  And it's where people look now.
• 22:34
  They go to, they go and look.
• 22:36
  If you have a, we take Google, if you have a four, five, four, six score, it's where you need to be.
• 22:42
  Oh, you guys were hired, you were like way up there.
• 22:44
  We sometimes tickle four, seven, sometimes, but it's very difficult on Google.
• 22:49
  But I always say if a Google score is not important until you have a 3.9.
• 22:53
  Yeah.
• 22:54
  Well, and again, it's not even the stars sometimes, when it's the comments you have to read.
• 22:59
  Yeah, I agree.
• 22:59
  What people are saying.
• 23:00
  You have to be engaged with people.
• 23:01
  You know, hopefully nobody's jigging the comments.
• 23:04
  But reading the comments about Zender Ford last night.
• 23:07
  Yeah.
• 23:08
  People were, I mean, and for people to be happy about buying a car these days, that's a big task to make them happy.
• 23:14
  And what's interesting about the reviews is the level of detail that people put in to reviews now, especially positive reviews.
• 23:22
  There are people put in a lot of detail in the negative reviews sometimes when things go off.
• 23:28
  But the positive reviews, I am always amazed.
• 23:31
  And I think that's changed.
• 23:32
  Like 10 years ago, it would be like just a click.
• 23:34
  Now it's a click and a comment.
• 23:35
  And a comment.
• 23:36
  And a comment.
• 23:37
  And then you go and look at the person and they have a whole, they're a curated Google profile on their thing.
• 23:45
  And how you know it's legit is if there's good comments and there's some critical comments.
• 23:49
  There weren't a lot of critical comments on Zender Ford.
• 23:51
  You know, they were the basics.
• 23:53
  I think that anybody would expect.
• 23:55
  But you just knew, okay, this is legit.
• 23:57
  Yeah, it's good.
• 23:58
  Yeah, and that's, you know, I mean, especially in our service, we deal with about 2,000 people a month in our service departments.
• 24:05
  Wow.
• 24:05
  And that's all people with their vehicles broken.
• 24:09
  Right.
• 24:09
  And so it's like going to the dentist, you're not happy.
• 24:12
  Nobody's ever happy when you gotta go to the service department.
• 24:16
  It is not.
• 24:17
  That's worse than going to the dentist, when your car breaks down.
• 24:19
  It is.
• 24:19
  The fact that we can handle that and handle it with ease.
• 24:23
  We have a thing at Zender Ford where we try to be quietly busy.
• 24:26
  You know, we could have 50 vehicles in our shop and we could have lots going on, but we're quietly busy.
• 24:31
  Right.
• 24:32
  And that's kind of the goal we try to get to every month, where it's not chaos.
• 24:35
  Right.
• 24:35
  Sometimes it is, when it's minus 40 outside, and there's two feet of snow, and it gets really busy sometimes.
• 24:40
  But everything's in chaos when it's minus 40, two feet of snow there.
• 24:44
  So we try to just make the whole process of dealing with customers just as simple and as convenient as possible.
• 24:51
  That's the goal.
• 24:52
  Right.
• 24:52
  You know, one phone call away, and then we take it from there is kind of always the goal.
• 24:55
  Right.
• 24:56
  And just, but that requires you have to have a lot of, you know, expertise and people that are good at the job to handle it because it's, it's, you know, an oil change is not a complex thing, but if you don't have the right setup for it, it's a very complex thing.
• 25:08
  Yeah, it becomes a complex thing.
• 25:09
  Yeah.
• 25:09
  So, all right.
• 25:10
  So business is that side.
• 25:12
  Now, what is Chad Zender do for fun in his life?
• 25:16
  What is, well, do you have time?
• 25:18
  I mean, Yeah.
• 25:19
  You have how many children?
• 25:20
  I have two children.
• 25:21
  Two children?
• 25:21
  Two beautiful teenage girls.
• 25:24
  And so they're, you know, I'm a girl dad.
• 25:26
  Yeah, me too.
• 25:27
  Yeah, they keep me on my toes for sure.
• 25:29
  Now, have they graduated high school?
• 25:32
  They're in grade 11 at Memorial.
• 25:33
  Okay, yeah.
• 25:34
  And grade in junior high.
• 25:36
  Okay.
• 25:37
  Yeah, in grade 7 in junior high at Muir Lake School.
• 25:39
  Okay.
• 25:39
  And great, great kids.
• 25:41
  And they keep me busy.
• 25:42
  They're very involved in a lot of things.
• 25:44
  One of my daughters plays ringette.
• 25:46
  Okay.
• 25:46
  With the Spruce Grove Ringette Association, which is, you know, for those that don't know ringettes, it's like hockey, except better.
• 25:52
  Yeah, it's busy.
• 25:53
  Except faster.
• 25:54
  And, you know, the Spruce Grove Ringette Association has been around for 40 years as well.
• 25:59
  Okay.
• 26:00
  And so I've been fortunate to be a coach for my daughter for five, this is my sixth year now.
• 26:08
  You know, I'm assistant coach actually this year, which is kind of different, but it's kind of fun too.
• 26:12
  Sure, sure.
• 26:13
  Less work.
• 26:13
  Yeah.
• 26:15
  But I like that and, you know, I'm kind of a taxi dad, I guess sometimes, you know, taking them to everything else.
• 26:21
  And then when I have the time, I'm an avid, you know, try to be a golfer.
• 26:27
  I play hockey still, you know, beer league hockey up in Calahoo Arena.
• 26:32
  This is kind of where I end up.
• 26:34
  And, you know, some nights and, you know, so try to keep busy with athleticism.
• 26:38
  I find that's my thing.
• 26:40
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 26:41
  Chad, one of the things that I really admire about you and everyone in your dealership is you really believe in giving back to the community.
• 26:49
  Tell us a little bit about that.
• 26:50
  I know you're a big supporter of the Parkland Food Bank and other charities.
• 26:56
  Just talk a little bit about why that's important.
• 26:59
  I think it's always been important.
• 27:02
  You know, I don't know when it started.
• 27:05
  With my brother and sister, you know, we kind of made it a part of our thing.
• 27:09
  We try to basically budget every year when we're thinking about our budgets, a certain percentage of our money that just is going to go to donations and community support.
• 27:20
  We kind of like to do, because we all grew up in sports, you know, minor hockey, minor soccer, all the stuff, ringettes, and so we try to give a lot of organizations a little.
• 27:34
  If you're an organization in Spruce Grove or Stony Plain, and you need a $500 donation, come in and ask for it.
• 27:40
  We'll give it to you.
• 27:41
  We're not going to...
• 27:42
  Like it's. It's just like, if it's a more ask, then we got to think about it.
• 27:46
  Sure, sure, yes, absolutely.
• 27:47
  But yeah, if you know any team, anything, just we're there.
• 27:52
  And then we tried over the years have evolved to donating the Parkland Food Bank.
• 27:58
  We always try to do food drives for them as well.
• 28:01
  One year, Sheri, the director of the Parkland Food Bank contacted me, I don't know how, and we got talking and their van was basically falling apart.
• 28:13
  And they needed a new van and she wanted a quote on a new van.
• 28:17
  And it was kind of like, well, why don't we just give this to you?
• 28:19
  Wow.
• 28:19
  It's amazing.
• 28:20
  Why would you pay for it?
• 28:21
  And that started the first donation to the Parkland Food Bank, bigger.
• 28:27
  And then that van is still running and it comes in and they don't pay for anything.
• 28:31
  If they need tires and brakes, it's just, we just take care of it all the time.
• 28:36
  And then after that, the next year was kind of like, well, we gave a van last year, what do we give this year?
• 28:40
  Well, they need money to buy food.
• 28:43
  And sometimes we don't have the time to give to them, like volunteering.
• 28:48
  Although my wife Tiffany does actually volunteer at the Parkland Food Bank a lot, just something she likes to put in her time.
• 28:56
  But sometimes we don't have the time, but we have the earnings and we can put some of our resources and capital towards it.
• 29:02
  So we've been donating a large check every year to them for, I think this is, I don't know, I think seven or eight or ten year maybe.
• 29:12
  And we're committed to just doing it.
• 29:13
  That's fantastic.
• 29:14
  We've had Sheri on the podcast.
• 29:17
  You know, they do a remarkable work.
• 29:18
  They really do.
• 29:19
  Really good job.
• 29:20
  It's amazing that you guys support them the way you do.
• 29:22
  That's fantastic.
• 29:23
  And we like that.
• 29:24
  I mean, I like, you know, I thought the Parkland Food Bank for me is a way to give back directly to somebody in the community.
• 29:31
  Because, you know, there's a lot of people that are hurting.
• 29:34
  And so, you know, we can't solve everybody's problems.
• 29:37
  But if I'm looking at trying to divert some of the resources of what we have to somebody, that's one thing that I feel like we can make a direct impact on somebody.
• 29:47
  It's really going to help them.
• 29:48
  So that's why we've always been with the Parkland Food Bank.
• 29:52
  And then we give, you know, a lot of, we try to be, you know, the associations.
• 29:58
  You know, I believe in the chambers and the business associations myself.
• 30:02
  I used to be a director of the Chamber of Commerce for a minute, you know, and, you know, believe in that whole concept of you have to build the community.
• 30:11
  And, you know, we talk about Spruce Grove and that's, and, you know, going, moving away, you know, when you're younger, you're not really part of a community.
• 30:20
  You're there, but, you know, you're living two blocks from the beach or this and that.
• 30:23
  And then I moved back to Edmonton and you're young.
• 30:25
  And so you live in an apartment here and there, and you're just trying to find where you're going to actually, like, build a house and set up roots.
• 30:31
  Yeah, where you're going to land.
• 30:33
  You know, I look at Spruce and Stony Plain and Parkland County and this incredible community that just really has a lot going for it.
• 30:40
  And so anything we can help is good.
• 30:44
  I will say on a side note, we have also set up a family foundation as well, which has taken us a couple of years to set that up.
• 30:51
  And again, that's another, you know, family discussion.
• 30:56
  You know, you talk about the Myshaks, I think they have a foundation and that's a whole other, once it's set up, it's a whole other way to give.
• 31:02
  It is generational, because it doesn't go away.
• 31:04
  No, it just keeps going.
• 31:05
  You know, it's something that we want to build and just try to, you know, we still have to sell cars and earn the money.
• 31:12
  Yeah, sure.
• 31:13
  But if we do a little bit, we want to...
• 31:14
  It makes it a little more concrete, so...
• 31:16
  Fantastic.
• 31:16
  I was sorry to hear that you lost your brother.
• 31:19
  That must have been a huge blow.
• 31:21
  Yeah, very much.
• 31:22
  For the business and for your family.
• 31:23
  Yeah, definitely.
• 31:25
  You know, it came out of the blue.
• 31:26
  He had, you know, diagnosed with cancer, and we say sometimes when cancer takes, it just takes.
• 31:32
  You know, and it wasn't anything to do with, you know, the health care system here that I think the doctors and the system we have threw everything in the kitchen sink at him to try to save him, and it just didn't.
• 31:43
  So, you know, it must have been a huge blow to your family.
• 31:47
  Yeah, it was a tough year.
• 31:48
  You know, the end of 23 and starting at 24 was very difficult.
• 31:54
  And I'm sure a huge blow to the business.
• 31:55
  Yeah, yeah, he was a big leader in the business and a big part of the business and just had been for, you know, two decades.
• 32:02
  And so it was, it's, you know, it's been a year, definitely.
• 32:08
  But I will say that, you know, what it really showed was, you know, the resiliency of employees.
• 32:13
  Right.
• 32:13
  And, you know, the people around us, I mean, just everybody just rallied.
• 32:17
  And of you too.
• 32:18
  It was you and your family as well.
• 32:21
  You know, that's a hard thing to rebound from.
• 32:23
  And you never really rebound, but you know what I mean?
• 32:26
  If it's, so you guys, I think, are doing an amazing job.
• 32:29
  Thank you.
• 32:29
  So, you know, a lot of soul searching and, you know, we always just talk a lot about, about, you know, we just move forward.
• 32:35
  You know, that's what we're trying to do and just keep on building that legacy, you know, because we don't want to make that legacy feel with Shayne.
• 32:41
  No.
• 32:41
  You know, just kind of go away.
• 32:42
  We want to make sure that his work and his legacy is just continued on.
• 32:46
  Fantastic.
• 32:47
  And that he has two sons that are in high school and, you know, we want them to, you know, you know, grow up to see his legacy.
• 32:55
  Fantastic.
• 32:55
  You know, they're great kids.
• 32:56
  Yeah.
• 32:57
  Wow.
• 32:58
  Time has flown.
• 32:59
  It has.
• 32:59
  It's gone by pretty fast.
• 33:00
  We're on to the final question already.
• 33:02
  Yeah, this is it.
• 33:03
  I know.
• 33:05
  So Chad, share with us the best piece of advice you've been given, either personally or professionally, that you carry with you to this day.
• 33:14
  I don't know.
• 33:15
  I got a lot of good advice.
• 33:18
  Maybe I'll go back to something my dad told me way back when I was in college, and he just said, Chad, whatever you want to do in life, just focus on one thing and just try to do it well.
• 33:29
  It's good advice.
• 33:30
  It is good advice.
• 33:31
  When it came time to, do I want to be in the car business, it's kind of like, do I want to be a car dealer or not?
• 33:37
  And if you do, just get into it and just start learning how to sell cars, learn how to, you know, I mean, I can't fix cars, but all the other stuff and just focus on it and just do it.
• 33:47
  Fabulous.
• 33:48
  You know, I think I've been my happiest when I've done that.
• 33:51
  And just, you know, a lot of, you know, not just doing one thing and just really focusing on it.
• 33:57
  So professionally and good advice.
• 33:59
  It is great advice.
• 34:00
  So Chad, if somebody is looking to buy a new Ford vehicle, where can they go?
• 34:05
  They can go to Zender Ford in Spruce Grove and they can call us, they can text us, they can email us, they can do anything.
• 34:13
  zenderford.ca.com zenderford.com www.zenderford.com www.zenderford.com Fantastic.
• 34:23
  It's gone by.
• 34:24
  Like this has flown.
• 34:25
  This is great.
• 34:25
  We could probably go for another hour.
• 34:27
  This is fantastic.
• 34:28
  Thank you so much.
• 34:29
  Thank you, Chad.
• 34:30
  Appreciate it.
• 34:31
  Appreciate you taking the time.
• 34:32
  And yeah, check out Zender Ford.
• 34:34
  Probably got some great 2025 sales on.
• 34:36
  Coming in.
• 34:37
  Oh yeah.
• 34:37
  Everything's coming in.
• 34:38
  Everything's coming in.
• 34:39
  So now's the time to buy.
• 34:41
  Thanks, everybody.
• 34:41
  Thanks, Chad.
• 34:42
  Thank you.
• 34:43
  Yeah.
• 34:44
  I love their community involvement.
• 34:45
  Just a great guy.
• 34:46
  So that was a great episode.
• 34:48
  It was.
• 34:48
  Yeah.
• 34:49
  And I'm excited about next week's.
• 34:51
  Tell us, who's our guest next week?
• 34:53
  Well, Cam, you know that I love honey.
• 34:58
  Yes.
• 34:59
  And we just happened to meet these two individuals that produce honey.
• 35:04
  That's right.
• 35:05
  They're honey producers.
• 35:06
  They are.
• 35:07
  So our guests next week, and actually, they used to both be in the media world.
• 35:12
  That's right.
• 35:13
  One was, I think, a weatherman.
• 35:15
  On CTV.
• 35:16
  On CTV.
• 35:18
  And I believe his wife was with CBC.
• 35:19
  Now, I'm not sure what.
• 35:21
  I'm not sure she was on camera.
• 35:22
  Anyway, they were both involved in media.
• 35:24
  And then went to honey.
• 35:25
  Yeah, they left that to go to honey.
• 35:26
  So our guests next week are going to be Amber and Richard Osrow.
• 35:31
  Yeah, from?
• 35:32
  From Good Morning Honey.
• 35:33
  Good morning honey.
• 35:34
  That honey is delicious.
• 35:36
  I'm really excited about next week.
• 35:37
  I hope they bring us honey.
• 35:38
  I hope they bring us honey.
• 35:39
  I know.
• 35:40
  And not only that, just to hear about how honey, well, I know how honey is made, but how you mass manufacture honey.
• 35:46
  That's right.
• 35:47
  And what a story.
• 35:47
  You leave the media world to go into honey.
• 35:50
  How does that happen?
• 35:50
  I know.
• 35:51
  So you have to tune in next week.
• 35:52
  That's right.
• 35:53
  To find out.
• 35:54
  Pretty excited about that.
• 35:55
  Well, everybody, thank you again for listening to another episode of the ABA Coffee In The Park.
• 36:00
  Hey, don't forget to tell your friends.
• 36:03
  They can find us wherever you get your podcast or at www.Achesonbusiness.com.
• 36:10
  Tell your friends, tell your neighbours, tell your co-workers, tell your enemies.
• 36:13
  If you don't have any friends, make one so you can tell them about the podcast.
• 36:16
  But hey, don't stop listening because we got some great stories coming up.
• 36:20
  We sure do.
• 36:21
  Thanks, everyone.
• 36:22
  Thanks, everybody.
• 36:22
  Have a great week.