Mastering the Art of Real Estate with Guest, Gayle Zientek, Send Out Cards, “What you send out in life comes back.” Gayle

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:39):
Welcome to mastering the Art of real Estate. I'm your host,
Debbie Demaggio. We are here today with this Gail Zintac.
She's coming to us from Michigan. Welcome Gail.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Hey, nice to be here. Thanks for having me today. Oh,
thank you, thanks for joining. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
On this Friday afternoon, we are going to introduce Gail
is married to Steve for forty seven years. She has
three adult married kids and twelve grandchildren. Wow, I'm so envious,
ages twenty two to seven. She joined Send Out Cards
in two thousand and seven and within three years their

(01:16):
real estate business went from thirty five percent to one
hundred percent referral business sending cards and gifts. That is
really impressive. She made the decision to join as a
consultant and over nineteen years has built a large organization
with monthly residual income. She retired from real estate in
twenty twenty two. Send Out Cards rebranded as Promptings in

(01:38):
twenty twenty three and created the Gratitude movement. Every day
is a day to work on personal development. Send out
kindness and appreciation. When you send out, what you send
out in life comes back. I one hundred percent, one
hundred and ten percent believe that. That is my motto.
What what People ask, why do you do what you do?

(02:02):
You don't get paid for it, I said, it doesn't matter.
I do it because it makes me feel good and
things just come back in weird ways. So I love that.
And we just met over the phone, probably a couple
of months ago, but we had such a great conversation.
I immediately invited you to be on the show because
you have such a great attitude and we share very
similar things. So welcome and thank you so much for

(02:26):
taking the time.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
I'm excited to share some insight maybe the realtors might
be able to use to grow their gratitude and their businesses.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Absolutely, So, you were referred to me by George, and
I met George through another business B and I. One
of my B and I colleagues introduced me from California,
introduced me to George. I just love connecting the dots
around the world. It's so fun. And George, who was
watching right now, he's in Australia, and he introduced me

(03:00):
to you because you're a real ator. So that's why
I thought it would be so great to hear. So
why don't you first tell us I want to go
back to how you got into real estate and and
to send out cards, but first tell us what send
out cards is?

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well, send out cards is.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
It was a platform that I found years ago, actually
a b and I. I went to a visitor's day
and a week later I got a.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Card in the mail.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
And after nineteen it's not been nineteen years and I
still have the card to this day. And because it
was a tangible thing, it was a tangible connection from
someone that I met very briefly but made an impression
on me. And so when I opened the card and
saw my business card on the front and said, nothing

(03:45):
beats a great referral. I'm like three years into real estate. Yeah,
referrals are important, but I wasn't getting very many at
the time, and so I was just really intrigued by
the power of what this card represented to me as
a recipient, and I wanted to know more.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
So I got in.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Touch with a person who sent it to me and
sent a card to my husband and the rest is
promourbial history.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
So wow, it's incredible. So I started, I tried it
out to send out cards and I am such a
control freak, so I don't just send out. So this
platform that you can write cards very easily. They make
it so easy. And what's so great about it is
you put all your contacts in there and you send

(04:33):
out a card, and then if you forgot if you
sent it, you can go there and see that you
actually sent the card, which is really helpful. And if
you get if a card comes back you know you
have the wrong address, you can find it. So it
helps keep you up to date with your friends and clients.
So you can either send out just the templates they
give you the cards just really easily, which would be

(04:54):
great if I wasn't such a control freak. But what
I love about it it reminds me of just when
I was growing up. Collauged a lot, and I love
putting photos together and I like to really personalize a card.
So I've been having so much fun personalizing the cards
and putting whether it was you know, for Christmas, put
my family and then if I have a photo of

(05:15):
them and me, Like I'm going to be sending out
some cards to some real estate agents that I met
at our conference in Scottsdale, and I have photos of
us together, and so I will add those photos to it,
so it'll be very personal, so you will want to
keep it. And what I love most. And George took
a photo of his when I sent a card to him,
he took a photo of it, and you know, and
showed me that he got it. And I just love that.

(05:37):
It just it just it's the card that keeps on giving.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
Mm hmm. Absolutely, So tell me how.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Okay, so you started in real estate, So telling me
about how you got into real estate, and then how
you got into the cards. And when you got into
real estate, was it out of college or was it
something were you in another career. I always like to
hear how people got into this business.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Awesome, Yeah, thanks for asking. I was a teenage mom.
So I got married to my husband when I was
a senior in high school and had three children within
three years. And I was a stay at home mom
doing childcare in our home for twenty five years. And
so once I would always say, well, once the kids
go to school, i'll find something.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Well once, you know, it was always pushed out.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
So after twenty five years and the birth of our
first grandchild, I said, you know what I think I
want to do something else, and so I my husband
encouraged me, says, you know, why don't you go into
real estate. So while I did that, I started a
cleaning business. Well, it didn't take me very long to
realize that cleaning houses was like took a whole lot.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Of effort and my body felt it. And so.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
But I needed something in that transition period from when
I took my test. And I always say in seventy
two hours I became a realtor because I took a
forty hour class, studied all weekend, and on Monday, I
took the state test and I passed.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
And it's like, wow, I'm a realtor. What does that mean.
I don't even know anything.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
And so it's really easy to get your real estate license,
but then what you put into it, there's a reason
why so many quit in their first year, and many
quit within the first three years of getting their license. Well,
my first three years. Because I didn't go to college.
I made a commitment that my first three years in

(07:27):
real estate, I'm going to learn as much as I can.
So I got my GRI, I got my ABR, I
got my CRS, and I then in three years studied
for my broker license and passed that test. So I
became a broker within those first three years, and.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
I learned the value.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
And the business behind real estate, taking all the educational classes,
and so I feel like I really got my college
education in those first three years, investing in learning for myself.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
And then it was three years into the.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Business, my husband was working nights and he wanted to
make some a change.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
So I said, look, you.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Know I was being very successful in real estate back
in the early two thousands, and so he joined me
in the real estate in two thousand and six. I
became a real turn in two thousand and three, and
from that point on, we just built a business together.
And I think it was probably nine years into our

(08:34):
business that we opened up our own brokerage. And so
we had our own brokerage for six years and really
enjoyed the freedoms that came with being able to create
and build a real estate business. But back three years
in I mentioned that we had become successful, but I
still I had like a stack of files on my

(08:55):
desk because I wanted to be able to connect with people.
I just didn't know how. And I remember we're asking,
you know, the seasoned agents, like how do you stay
in touch with people? How do you stay top of mind?
You know, how do you keep control of your database?
And you know Top Producer Agent two thousand. There was
a lot of recommendations, and I had Top Producer for

(09:16):
a few years, but it was way too complex and
I didn't use it. And we all know that, you know,
great ideas come, but implementation is what makes the difference.
And so when I got this card in the mail,
looked at this had that contact manager and so honestly,
for the next eighteen years we had nothing except for

(09:40):
the contact manager that sent out card offered and have
over seven thousand contacts in there. I've sent over thirty
thousand cards over time. And you know, it was by
being able to stay in touch with people throughout the year.
Through we had a couple of client events, so we'd
invite people using the en out card system and then

(10:02):
we'd follow up using the send out card system because
there was pictures that we could implement on those and
then so it would keep kept people intrigued and kept
them engaged with us. You know, when we'd see things
on social media, I'd take a picture, send a card,
celebrate life, different life events, and it really was the

(10:25):
key for us to build that referral business over a
dozen years in real estate.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
That's incredible. So let's go. So in the I'm just
kind of getting used to it, but I noticed there's features.
I'm trying to category categorize my people because I really
love other clients as well as colleagues that you can
work referrals throughout the world. Now, there's a place for
birthday and anniversary. If is it automatic that it would

(10:55):
let you know that, How do you keep track of
that or how do you like noted it's someone's birthday?
Do you have to just go in and know or
is there an automatic feature?

Speaker 2 (11:04):
There are notifications that you can turn on and you
can get a notified birthdays. You can also go into
your search the browser and search by birthday, like let's
say it's April. You can go April first to April thirtieth,
and then click search birthday and it'll pop everybody's birthday

(11:25):
in April for you, so you can you know. And
then the campaign feature, being able to create a car
that goes out to people throughout the year is with
a touch.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Of a button. And if you want to personalize it.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
You can go in and you can add a picture
from their Facebook to make it personal for them. This
is an example of a car that I got from
a friend. She's actually a realtor out in California, Betty,
and she so my husband and I had a motor
home and so everybody. I got about three of these
happy camper cards. This is my birthday, but she personally

(12:00):
with pictures on the inside and so you know, and
on the back there's Betty just has a little picture
and I always have her contact information. It's right here
in the returning a dress, so I can see it.
But I'm not, okay, I'm not going to throw this
birthday card away because it's special.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
I've got pictures.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
And I might even cut this up later down the
road if I'm making a clause or you know, vision
board or whatever. But the fact that we have the
ability to do that is really special. Anniversaries, I'd always
put the anniversary of the home closing. Okay, anniversary, I don't.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
My mom taught me.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
My mom was like Gail, a wedding anniversary is between
a husband and a wife. And so I grew up
thinking that and believing that, and so I a lot
of people like to celebrate wedding anniversaries and I got seriously,
I got a lot of cards celebrating our anniversary this year,
but the home anniversary, so the closing date, and that

(13:02):
way it gives I just helped a realtor go in
and they're setting up campaigns out eleven years for eleven
year anniversaries, and you have the ability to do that
in the system, you could. I suggested they do a
one to five year campaign and with the click of
a button, I can send a happy anniversary from now

(13:23):
to five years in the future that just stay in
my account and then each year.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
They'll go out at the scheduled time.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
So there's the ability to do that, which is really
I think of value to realtors who are busy.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
They want to stay in touch, and you allies can
go in.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
There's unexpected things that happen, so maybe there's a death
of a spouse, or maybe there's a divorce that happens,
and you've got the cards sitting in there. You can
always go in and cancel those cards before they go
out into the future as well. So it's a good
keeping hands on, but it's also hands off because You've
created one thing that's going out into the future, right.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
I'm going to have to do a little tortorial with
you guys so I can auto these do these campaigns
and set them up, because that would take a lot,
so a lot off my plate. So when you're setting
up when you started entering your people, how did you
what did you have a strategy to get in like
the birthdays and the anniversaries and or did you just

(14:26):
kind of sit down and just started like going through
the mls and trying to figure out when I closed
on that.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Well, I had those stack of files. So I had
like seventy five closed files, and I hired Juliana. Juliana
came into the office and I paid her ten dollars
an hour back in the day, and she just put
in she'd go through the files find the closing date,
but then in my system and so then then they
were Once they're there, they're there.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
You know. Family members.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
I used to have one of those long and burger
baskets with all the addresses and there.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
My husband's one of ten kids.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
I'm one of six kids, and so there's tons of
aunts and uncles and cousins and everybody. So I'd sit
down and i'd you know, maybe ten fifteen people a day.
I just put them in there. Now I say that,
but you know, there's so much technology advancement today and
most people, most agents have their contacts in some type

(15:23):
of a database where they can export them. And you
can actually export and import right into the Send Out
Cards system.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
Very very quickly and easily.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
So as far and when you add a new person,
make sure you just add them in, put that anniversary
date in there, the closing of the home, and then
they're there.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, set it and late and set it and leave it.
I guess that's great. So we're going to take a
quick commercial break and we'll be right back with Gail,
who is with us from Send Out Cards. Thank you,

(16:18):
welcome back to Mastering the Art of Real Estate. I'm
your host, Debbie Demagio. We are here with Gail who's
coming to us from Michigan. So what would be Do
you have any really any memorable stories that came with
the cards that you've sent over the years, because you
did say you've sent over thirty thousand cards.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
That is huge, yes, and so back in two thousand
and eleven, I sent a card. My husband and I
went to an event. It was the Taste of the
Chamber and it was twenty different chefs that were presenting
their beautiful, bountiful feasts of.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
Food and all of us were. It was a event
and we were Actually it was just.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
A multi business event, and so we were going around
tasting the foods. And at the end of the day,
you cast your boat and the Park Street Market one
and I'm like, you know, it was just my habit.
So this was twenty eleven. I am four years into
utilizing this service. So I automatically, no, I'm going to

(17:24):
take a picture and I'm going to send a card.
And back then I had my shirt shot Cannon. I
remember the digital camera that fit.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
In my purse. And I sent the card. I think
I might.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
I don't know where it is right off the hand,
but I sent a card to the Park Street Market.
I didn't know anybody, but I took their picture. I
just said, congratulations, your food rocked the house of the Taste.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Of the Chamber.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
No better Ribs, Greens and Peach Cobbler, a win well
earned Steven Gale's Intech. Even the network team at even
bore Wilt and realtors and our phone number. That was
all it was on the card and their pictures and
I got a call a week later and it was
Kiar and he says, I just want to thank you
for the card that you sent.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
That was really nice.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
I see that you're a realtor, and my family and
I are moving here from the east side of the state,
and we thought, you know, maybe we could sit down
and see if we'd be a fit to work together.
And so we met with Kiar downtown Kalamazoo, had a
couple of beers and just got to know one another.
And this was back when the foreclosure market was happening,
so on twelve and so we we nurtured this relationship

(18:32):
for over a year because it was on twelve twelve,
twelve that he closed down his first home and it
was a foreclosure home. It was in twenty thirteen that
he got married to Eva. They had a couple kids
and then but he said he had a family. So
like we helped a brother get into a house, we

(18:53):
helped his sister get into a house. We helped his
other younger sister, mom and dad bought a house. He
referred us to a friend who moved from the east
side of the state to Kalamazoo. They bought a house
and we sold that house, and so I think there
was over twelve transactions just out of that one car
that to somebody I didn't even know. And that has
made such a huge impact because not only did they

(19:17):
become clients, but they became friends, and you know, we
were involved in in the birth of their babies.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Steve and I were just recently out in Baltimore, Maryland
for an event and one of.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
The sisters that we helped purchase a home and then
sold their home moved out there and we stopped by
unexpected one night and they welcomed us in with open ears.
I was so happy to see us. And you know,
that's just the relationships we've built with the mom, even
the brothers and sisters over on the east side of
the state that only lived over there, but we've seen

(19:52):
them at you know, family events, and they embraced us
with open arms. So it's just that that's my one
great story.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
That's a great story.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
And I have one more. I'll share it because this
is the power of one.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
And you mentioned you mentioned b and I we met.
Brooks is our financial advisor from B and I, and
so Brooks referred to us to herself. We helped her
and her husband sell their home and buy another one.
But over the course of the last fourteen years, Brooks
has referred us enough business that she's been worth about

(20:28):
five five hundred and fifty five dollars a year to
us for the last fourteen years. I always say, what
if you had twenty or thirty people that were worth
five thousand dollars a year to you, all you had
to do is keep in touch with them, and they
remembered you, and they know what you do and they
like you, so they refer business to you. And so
that's the power of one of just keeping in touch

(20:50):
and you know, building those relationships.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Right, Building relationships is just is so important and it's
fun too. It's not that's what I'm finding. I started
my career just with kids and husband and just you know,
not really I never had a CRM. It was just
kind of referrals and just doing what you do and
then it kind of just happens and open houses. But

(21:14):
I love In the last year and a half, I
joined B and I talking about the power of one
and just and it's so purposeful. And you meet every
week you are with these the same group, and you
learn how you can help them. I'm always at the
top referring. I'm always the top referral person because my
mind just thinks that way. But it's just so fun

(21:34):
and it's so effortless, and with building relationships is so fun. Right,
It's not like work. It's you're building a relationship. We're
having a conversation right now. How hard is that? And
then if something comes great, you know, it's it's so
important and it just makes it so fun. It's not
like I was telling my son, it's I mean, you
can do anything, but you know, real estate is It's

(21:56):
just it's just I feel like it's an elevated experience
to selling let's say solar or something that's not as
fun and not as meaningful, I would say. And so anyway,
I just love that. And tell us how long were
you in B and I and when did you start
the start with B and I in your career?

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Well started with B and I in the see the
fall of two thousand and six, because it was in
two thousand and seven at visitors Day when I received
the card in the mail after the Visitor's day. So
we were in My husband and I were in this
chapter for sixteen years. Wow, and forty four percent of

(22:36):
our annual income came out of the referrals from our
B and I partners.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Wow. That's impressive. I mean it is. It's so impressive.
Or I'm having my power Partners. I'm just getting used
to all the verbage. But I'm having my power Partner
group to my house on Tuesday to further those relationships.
And it's just such a nice way of getting to
know people and helping others. So US three to five,

(23:02):
So helping our agents, helping you know, any anyone who's
building a product service or who has a product service
or brand. If you sell send out cards. Three to
five ways someone could build their business.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Well, the first way is you know, Cody built this
and the reason why he rebranded it to promptings is
because promptings is a very prominent word that I've learned
from him since day one of getting involved with sendout cards.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
And it's like that prompting is that.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Intuitive thought when you think about something, it's it's like
and in the reference to being at the Taste of
the Chamber, it was automatic for me. I was a
level four habit of I didn't think. I just did something,
And so you just get in tune with acting on
your promptings. So as you're scrolling. We all scroll through
social media every day, and I Easter was just passed.

(23:55):
I can't tell you how many people that I pause,
save their pictures and quickly sent them a card. Wow,
just celebrating because they're all dressed up and they're all,
you know, happy smiles on their faces. Prom My grandson
just went to prom this last week and I was,
you know, I was so excited when my daughter shared

(24:16):
the pictures and I created a fun card and I
was able to send him a memory of his prom
night with his friend Ava that they went to. So
it's those kind you know. Cody teaches about eighty percent
relationship twenty percent marketing. So here's the key, and I
would I would always say I'm ninety five to five

(24:36):
because very little did I market with send out cards.
There is a purpose and a place for that with
using send out cards. But you get the most bang
for your buck and you get the most return on
emotional investment when you take a moment to send a
personal card. So I would say, send you know, send

(24:56):
three to five cards every single day.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
You know.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Cody just came out with as acts is a digital card.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
It's be able. It's to help us.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Like immediately act on those promptings so I can take
a picture. My friend, he just announced that he changed brokerages.
He lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and so I
took the picture that he made the announcement, and I
just sent him a digital card. I made a card
and said, hey, Andy, congratulations on your move, loving you,

(25:28):
love seeing you still rock real estate Gail and you know,
and I sent it. I texted it to him. I've
had friends who posted about a dear friend who passed away,
and she was emotional in the moment.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
I was able to.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Take that image and her feelings that she posted, and
I send her that card.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
And Jackie's received cards from me.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
She's in my b and I so she's received cards
for me for the last eighteen years. And her response
back from even a digital hard was, oh my gosh,
can I please have that in print? You know, I
will frame that and put it in my house. It
meant that much to her. And so I think if we,
if we if we get in touch, with our senses

(26:12):
of our emotional senses towards people and what they're going through,
what emotions they're experiencing, and we give that back to them.
It means the most for them.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Yeah, that's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And what I just learned too, which I didn't think
of because I'm so obsessive about getting the high resolution photo,
you literally just download it from the internet or take
a screenshot and then upload it.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I love that. That's great. That's a whole other thing
to do. Okay, so we have we're going to say
three to five, so give us some more great tips.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
And then for those of you who are working with
buyers and sellers, you know the ability once you get
to the closing table and not forgetting them afterwards. So
I created a four four card campaign that goes out.
One goes immediately with a four pack of brownies, just
congratulating them, picture of their house on the front and

(27:10):
letting them know how much we appreciated working with them.
Card two goes out three months later, and it's got
a fifty dollars gift card and our American Express gift
card and we say, you know, it's just been a
few months. If you have any lingering questions, please don't
hesitate to reach out. Maybe you can find something for
your home with this gift card. The third one goes

(27:32):
out at Thanksgiving. It's scheduled to go out on eleven eleven,
and so it gets there just before Thanksgiving and it
thanks them for allowing us to be a part of
their life and thank them that we're thankful for them
being a part of our lives.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
In this year.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
And then the fourth card goes out on the anniversary
their one year anniversary with a two pack of brownies
or some chocolate chip cookies, and it just says, Wow,
I can't believe it's been a year already wanted to say,
you know, thanks again and hope you've been creating some
amazing memories in your home. So being able to set
that campaign in progress the day of closing and then

(28:13):
knowing that over the course of the next year it's
going to get to them and it's costing like less
than one hundred dollars to touch them four times, and
it's got four it's got three gifts that go along
with it.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
So that's incredible. So you set it and you forget it.
It's just once you set it up. So I know this,
but I don't think everyone does. So the gifts are
those in the send out card come through send out cards.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yes, they have a whole bunch of you know, savory gifts.
They have bakery gifts, they have home gifts. I've like,
I sent them all the time, wind chimes when someone
passes away that's special to me. And there's these little
wind chimes that cost me less than twenty two dollars

(29:00):
to send them. And I just always say, I make
it a very personal card. And when I say, when
you hear these, just know that your loved one is
think you know on your mind. And then for.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Babies, people have babies.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
There's the pink giraffe and the blue giraffe, and I know,
I take a picture that they post on social media
and I put it on the front of the cart
and one of the templates, and I just congratulate them
and let them know.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
That I see them.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, that's so incredible. I love it.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
So the you know, sending the gifts is a I
send probably three to five gifts every week and it
just makes a difference. I just got some brownies for
our diversity from a realtor friend out in Massachusetts.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
You know Scott and me.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
I always seem to acknowledge you know, people in their
life and so my husband and I, I said, I get
to share these with you because it's for both of us.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
Well that so are you? So obviously you can't know
that all these things are happening because there are so
many things happening that you're so aware of. So is
it from Instagram and Facebook that you're finding like who
to send be prompted to send a gift? Or yeah, yep,
that's hard too. Okay, that's wonderful. I do. So I

(30:19):
know you do events. So can you walk us through
one of your events from what you send, how you
send the is in the form of a card or
you know, how does it get to them? And if
you show us what that looks like, because I know
you're so organized.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yes, we had well when and when we were active,
so there was it was two events a year.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
We would have a pumpkin pumpkin fest.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
So every year we have pumpkin Fest and we would
invite we teamed up with my daughter's staycare centers and
so we create a card and it would just say
we're excited to see you the place we're going, pumpkin patch,
face painting, bounce house costumes. You're invited to the eighth annual.

(31:07):
This was back in twenty nineteen the time. And then
you know, you always have your branding on the back,
who you are and how people can get a hold
of you. But the cool thing about this was, you know,
we'd send out the invitation to probably one hundred and
fifty people. Maybe sixty to seventy five would attend, but

(31:29):
all one hundred and fifty people received the card, so
they understood that we were having this. And then afterwards
we'd take pictures at the event and it was usually
kind of a threefold card and just all the fun
that we had with the kids and the face painting
and just they'd pick a free pumpkin and take it
home and we'd say, you know, once you carve this,

(31:52):
send us a picture and let us know. And if
they did, you know, then there's another card that can
go out with the picture of their carved pumpkin. So
we did that, and we did a flower fest in May,
and we'd purchase hanging baskets at a discount and we'd
invite our clients to come and pick out a hanging basket.
And so this was always right around Mother's Day, so

(32:13):
they could come on the Saturday before Mother's Day pick
a hanging basket, and then they're thinking about us all year,
and we always make sure we take a picture of
them with their hanging basket, and so then we'd send
the card to them thanking them for coming. And you know,
so those are kind of some of the ways that
we would use that to follow up afterwards.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Right, those are really great, I know, because nowadays I
have a hard time with like, you know, there's so
many different people celebrate so many different holidays. It's hard
to say if you say happy Passover, happy Easter, are
happy Gosh only knows. There's thousands of them. So I
just like to point out, you know, you know, for
May is a good time Mother's Day or instead of
Easter or Passover or whatever, the holiday could be springtime.

(32:56):
But I like the idea of the Halloween because that's
so fun and that's so you know, neutral for everyone.
But those are great ideas. So you send the card,
you invite them, they come, you send them another card.
Is there you have so many ideas? Are there other
promptings that you have, you.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Know, at the first of the year, cards that you know,
if you take pictures, if you have pictures of the
homes that you've closed throughout the year, and you just
create a card and at the first of the year,
you can send that out and say, you know, we
just want to let you know that we had a
really great year. Thank you for all the referrals that
you've provided for us. Here some of the awesome properties

(33:38):
we were able to market and sell or help buyers purchase.
And and so it's a it's a visual you know,
in B and I you learn COVID or doctor Ivenmismer
would talk about VCP visibility, credibility and profitability, and I
think that can be utilized in all aspects of business

(34:01):
in life because your visibility creates your credibility.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
So how you show up on social media, how you
show up just out and around town.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
You know, the energy that you provide, your visibility, it
creates a credibility. So people want to know that you're credible.
So if you send a card with you know, the
pictures of the homes that you were able to sell
in the previous year, that that's that's credibility and profitability
and cards. I always say cards lead to conversation. So

(34:36):
when you send a card, it leads to a conversation,
not all. And here's what I'll here's where I'll interject this.
Just because you send a card, don't expect an answer, right.
You know, you're sending out to give instead of sending
you or sending out to get. And so a lot
of people will say, well, I've sent you know, twenty
cards and nobody's you know, said anything. Well, why are

(34:58):
you sending the cards? If you're just sending to celebrate people,
then that's then just celebrate people. Because I have gone
into homes over the years. We were called to a
listing appointment a couple that we helped purchase the home,
and we hadn't really had any contact much over the time.
She was in our B and I group and then

(35:19):
she wasn't, so then we didn't really have much contact.
But when we went to the home for the listing appointment,
up on the refrigerator was a card. And I'm like,
that looks like a card. And so when I went home,
here's what I love, the history, the card history. So

(35:40):
I was able to look up Paul in my card
history and guess what, there's that card I had sent
like three years previous from their vacation. They were out
on the beach, the family and that card was still
on the refrigerator. So it was that a coincidence that
they called us to come in even though we hadn't
really stayed deeply in touch with them. I think it

(36:00):
was just the you know, it's that subliminal message. So
don't ever think that the cards you send aren't doing
what you intended it to to reach out and to
connect and celebrate another person, because you might not know ever,
but you might know months down the road, or you
might know years down the road.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Absolutely, I love it. Just another touch point that, yes,
don't try to think that it's one for one you
have to do. I think leading with the heart is
so important. We're going to take a quick commercial break
and we will be right back with Gail. Welcome back

(36:59):
to Mastering the Art of Real Estate. I'm your host,
Debbie Demaggio. We are here with Gail. She is coming
to us from Michigan. She is a real estate agent,
well retired real estate agent, but she is for the
last has it been twenty two years you've been doing
send out.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Cars nineteen last nineteen years.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Nineteen years you've been doing send out cards? Wow? When
did they start? When did you say they started this company?

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I believe they started in two thousand and three, so
about twenty two years ago.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
That's amazing. So you've done a lot. Just you are amazing.
You are a marketing genius. But did you have any
mentors as you were in real estate or in send
out Cards?

Speaker 3 (37:43):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (37:43):
I've had mentors my whole life. I've had a lot
of mentors in real estate. I remember John was assigned
to me as my mentor in real estate, and he
actually helped me close the house of my My very
first purchase or sale was my son's purchase of a home,
and I had my license hadn't even come in yet,

(38:04):
so he helped. He kind of ran the transaction and
then my commission was put in escrow until my license
finally came in in March of four. But John, you know,
just John was always there and he was always kind,
he was always caring. I've had other coaches throughout throughout

(38:26):
my career. Cody Bateman, the founder of Send Out Cards.
He's been a tremendous mentor Jordan Adler, who is the
number one money earner in our business and send out
cards and promptings. He's been a mentor of mine and
has become a close friend over the past, you know,
twelve to fifteen years. So you know, just I think

(38:50):
staying plugged in, find find an energy that resonates with
who you are, and as you learn from them, you
will learn and grow in the same ways that they
resonate and put their energy out there. So I'm disgrateful
for that. I keep thinking, you know, like, are.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
There women mentors? Like I know I name these.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Men, but you know, I have my friend that I'm
going to stay with, Sheila. We've been we've been friends
for over thirty five years, and you know, we're just
sisters in christ and we just we love to spend
time together. So there are and my husband, my husband's
been a mentor of mine. We've been married forty seven years.

(39:39):
We grew up together, and wow, you.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Yeah, so yeah, mentors are so important. We have a
new team member who just joined Demaggio Beta Group, our
real estate group, and I when we were talking and
I said, you can either go out to go at
it on your own it's completely fine or if you'd
like to join us, happy to And I was. I
was as I was coaching with her. I coach it
every week. And then you know, obviously when you start

(40:05):
real estate, all of sudden there's urgent needs. How do
you maybe, you know, do a buyer broker agreement. I
now have that. You know, I'm trying to get her
to send out her announcement cards and do it in order.
But of course real estate, everything's all over the place.
You never know what's going to happen. But I said,
you know, think of working on a team as it's
really you're getting your MBA in real estate. You are

(40:27):
working not only with myself of thirty five years in
real estate, my husband Adam, who's my partner, thirty five years,
and he's a broker and he oversees eighty five agents
and I'm the marketing director. And you know, we've been
selling and doing this and even though it's been thirty
five years, I'm always learning, Like today sitting here with you,
I'm always learning new ways to do things. And over

(40:47):
the last year and a half interviewing with agents and
so I take that information and share it. It's just
it's amazing how it's it's not all the same and
there's so much new information. And so I said, get
so back to atting. Mentors. Have a mentor and think
of it as your MBA and real estate or whatever
the careers you're in. It's invaluable to learn and to

(41:09):
speed up the learning process and not to be sitting around.
Like you said, as soon as you got your license,
you're like, oh, now I'm a real or what do
I do. It's like a it's like going to college.
You go to college and all of a sudden you're like, Okay,
I can do whatever I want. I can go to school.
I don't have to go to class. I could. You know,
It's like you have to get structured right about your business.
So I think mentors are super important. I had a

(41:31):
couple of mentors in real estate. As you know, it
gets really tough and sometimes you're like, oh, I want
to quit. I can't believe that just happened. And you know,
I had a broker who took me across the street
and put me in a swing and you know, and
I was crying. I was so upset. I'm like, and
the aide and it was I had won a deal
for a client and it was in multiple offers, and

(41:51):
then the client decided after all that after we got it,
she didn't want it. And I just felt horrible for
the agent on the other side. And he was at
a different company and he brought me flowers and he said,
please don't quit. You're you're going to be really great
at this. And I was like, I feel so bad
I let you down, and and he was consoling me.

(42:13):
But it's so incredible. So tell me, do you you
know what let's talk about? Since you were mentioning so Cody,
it sounds like it's the founder of send out Cards.
You were telling me that, so this is a business
for you, So tell us the business side of send
out cards.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Well, you know, it's I always I remember when I
first got this card and I sent a card, and
now I'm researching, you know, how how can I join?
And there was an opportunity to join as a as
an affiliate back then as a distributor, and I'm.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
Like, why not? You know, I think this is a
great idea.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I had an emotional experience receiving a card, and I
had an emotional experience sending cards and then getting the
responses from people.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
So it's like this is a no brainer, you know.
And back then it was you.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Know, it was probably five hundred dollars to join as
a as an affiliate as a new distributor, and today
you can join for ninety nine dollars a year. And
you're just sharing. You know, it's be share and show
it's you're being in gratitude, Like I'm being in gratitude.
So there, what am I going to do? I'm going

(43:26):
to share my gratitude, which is me taking a picture
and putting it on the front of a card and
saying some kind words and sending it off. I'm sharing
my gratitude with others and then showing others how to
be in and share gratitude. So, you know, Cody rebranded
to Promptings and now we're the Gratitude movement. And I'm

(43:47):
a gratitude consultant. I love being a consultant. I'm I'm
a consultant now and you know, I'm just consulting with
people on how to be in and share gratitude with others.
And Cody's got a a pace get you know, someone
signs up for a program, a monthly subscription of either
you can for as little as ten dollars a month,

(44:09):
is up to one hundred and seventeen dollars a month
for an ongoing subscription to be able to connect and
send cards and create a great business. And I share
that with a few people, who share it with a
few people, who share with a few people. And you know,
nineteen years later, I have like twenty three hundred people
in my organization that are being in and sharing gratitude.

(44:32):
Not not all of them are active, but it's been,
you know, And it was during COVID when everything kind
of shut down in twenty twenty, I'm like, you know, we.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
All just stayed home. What are we going to do?

Speaker 2 (44:44):
And that was when I was first transitioning out of
real estate, when I made the decision that I'm going
to let my husband work with all the buyers and
I'm going to let them work with all the sellers.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
I just don't want to do it anymore, babe. I'll
be your assistant. I wasn't very good one of those,
but you know, just that.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Residual income that was coming in at the time, you know,
it paid our mortgage, it paid our car payment, it
paid it paid the taxes it paid for food and gas,
and it sustained us. And I'm like, this is I
this is what I saw nineteen years ago. I said,
you know, I could build a residual income because there's
so many people out there right now, Debbie, that are

(45:28):
living in fear and they're living in lack. Because I
worked twenty five years as a stay at home mom
providing care for children, I didn't pay I didn't get
a retirement from that. You know, I just retired as
a real estate agent. You don't retire with benefits.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
As a real estate agent.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
So it's up to us to you know, think about
those things into the future. And so I'm really just
glad I made the decision, you knoweeen years ago to
add that affiliate option to it, to become a consultant
that I am today. And when you are a product
of the product, and you use the product and you

(46:10):
share the product with others, that's when you're going to
have success. So, you know, and that's what I do.
Like what I shared at the beginning of this program
is all the ways I've used the cards over the
years and what it's meant to us in business. And
so now I consult other people how to do that,
and of course they want to join and they want

(46:32):
to they want to learn to be in gratitude more often,
and they want to learn how to share their gratitude
effectively with others. So I just have the opportunity now
to do it at a higher level.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
I love it. That's amazing. And you're saying you could
be an affiliate affiliate for ninety five dollars and then
you can build it as quickly or as slowly as
you want. And I think one thing you told me,
which is so smart, I mean, I love it. I'm sold.
I think it's the coolest thing. I just it's so creative,
and it makes it so easy and it's so fun.

(47:04):
It feels so great when you get a photo back,
like I just got one today. It's a snapshot and
text message and it was like, I go, oh, I
love that. So do you do trainings for your team
members or do they just call you when they need you?
Or how is there a format that you follow or

(47:24):
give us how you built your business?

Speaker 2 (47:28):
The Corporation of Promptings does a really great job of
delivering the information. So Monday night we have calls with
Cody CALLI and Dave Smith, and they're teaching the consultants
how to best do their business. We have tools that
are incredible if we even add these tools back nineteen years.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Ago, but now I can, like, if someone is curious.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
I can go, oh, hang on just a second, let
me go up here to my little app and I'm
going to send you a bit that explains exactly what
it is the gratitude movements about. And if you resonate
with that, it'll it'll ask you, you know, to decide
if you're a one or a two, which is if
you just want to use the product and be in

(48:14):
and share gratitude with others, or if you're a two
if you want to be if you're interested in being
a consultant, And if you are, then there's video three
that's going to go through all of the the the
layout of how you get paid, how you get paid
as a consultant. So everything is on an app that
I can share now, and that makes.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
It really really easy to do.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
And you know, I do like I'm having lunch with
one of my consultants next week. You know, Stacy says,
would you meet for lunch with me? But mostly it's
it's people that reach out to me. They know I'm here,
they know I'm available, and if they have questions, they're here.
At Chip Barco was one of my greatest, the my

(49:00):
biggest legs you would say in this business. He's a
realtor in Toronto and he has a large organization and
I met Chip online and he saw the value of
send out cards at the time nine years ago. And
he's built a great attraction to people. And so that's
what I do. I feel like I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

(49:22):
I'm attracting people by who I am and how I
put myself out there, which is how you know I
George says, Oh, I know Gail and she's she was
a realtor and Debbie would like to have conversation with
another realtor who's died, and that's what brought us together.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
So absolutely, yeah, I love it. And yeah, and since
I'm using it already, it would be easy, right because
I'm already I've already subscribed and I'm already in, so
now I just need to convert. So I love it.
It's so great. So tell us, let's see, because your
husband is still in real estate, right, so he's still active,

(50:00):
and I think your son is Is that true? Your
son is working with your.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Son in law. Yeah, my daughter's husband is a realtor
as well.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
So what are what are a couple of things because
we have newer agents and it's also good for seasoned
agents to hear because things change obviously. I mean when
I started, there was no internet or social media. So
what are three to five things you would encourage new
agents to do or learn to implement their business.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Well, one is you had mentioned there's a gal that's
just starting with you and the sending out the cards,
letting people know, making your list, just like you do
for every business, you make a list who do I
know and who needs to know what I'm doing right now?

Speaker 3 (50:42):
And so you make your.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
List and you send out that correspondence with them.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
That was I mean I.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
Did that twenty two years ago when I got my license.
I remember I still have I still have that letter
in a notebook what I send to people. So, you know,
letting people know who you are and what you're doing
now and finding that mentor so learning be a learn

(51:10):
at all, not a know at all, but learn it all,
because the more you involve yourself into learning about your
profession there's so many different ways to do it now.
When I started in real estate, it was you had floor.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
Duty, you did open houses and the follow up and
you know, you answered the phone.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
And I was really successful as the floor duty girl,
and I did a lot of I did a lot
of business with people I didn't know, but once you
and so now I don't even know what people do nowadays,
but you know, the AI's out.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
There and I don't. I mean, I just haven't grasped
onto that.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
So if you could get a response from me, it's
it's me, it's my words, it's my thoughts of you
at the moment. So be real with people. Be authentic
and real with people, and then send cards, you know,
make this a part of your activities to celebrate people,

(52:10):
because people don't know how much you care until they.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
People don't know, right, I know what you're saying.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
You know you know what I'm saying. Yes, yes they know.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
So just you know, being being relevant and involved, authentic
and learn, learn and grow because people will, people will
see through that. I can remember being in a GRI
class because remember I didn't know anything about selling houses,
and I would I'd go to this class and then

(52:44):
I'd be out an appointment and I'd hear myself saying
things that I learned in class, and I thought, wow,
who's that girl?

Speaker 1 (52:51):
I love that?

Speaker 2 (52:53):
So, you know, learn, learn your industry, and find a
good mentor, and just keep in touch with people in
a positive way.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Mentor super important. Keep learning. Know your market, whatever the
market is. You know in real estate, know your inventory,
Know your colleagues. Really get to know your I don't.
They're not competitors, they're colleagues. Get to know the colleagues
in your own company and the other company. And be
your authentic self one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
And you know, we had homes magazines back in the day,
and I would open up the homes magazines and here's
Jaquay Realtors, and I look at the agents. And I
would look up the agents because I was in a company.
It was Prudential Preferred Realtors, which is now Berkshire Hathaway,
and we had like five offices in town, and I

(53:43):
would look. I would look in the homes magazine and
I look at pictures of the different agents. I'd go
visit the different offices and I would meet the agents.
Because I was a relational girl and I wanted to
get to know people that I was working with, and
I would learn from the people who you know, have
been around a lot longer than I have. And so yes,

(54:05):
getting to know your colleagues is I think a really
important step in building a successful long term business.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Absolutely. So, Gail, I bet you have a morning routine.
Share with us your morning routine.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Well, you know, it's ever changing because as a retire
like I've been going through this transit retirement transition for
a couple of years now, and it's been kind of
tough because it's like, who am I? I had my
identity in real estate for twenty years and so now.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
Like, oh gee, what do I do now? I get
to wake up.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
And let's see, I go have a glass of water,
and then I'll go for a walk, drink some coffee.
But I do scroll social media, and I do make
it an intention to save photos and create and send
cards to people letting them know I'm thinking about them.

(55:04):
But I could say that you'll go through You'll go
through times in life where your routine will change. My
routine today is so much different than my routine was
two years ago, three years ago, and so just love
on yourself and give yourself grace to go through the changes,
because you can feel sometimes a.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Little bit out of sorts.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
But just know that you do have a purpose and
there's people around you that need you, and you know
the profitability that you're looking for in life is going
to come with how you treat yourself first and then
how you treat others.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
That's beautiful. That is so true. It's true, and yes
it's hard when you're transitioning. I was really hit hard
by the empty nest and so I don't think he'll
ever retire. So I probably never have that retirement thing
because I am just an overachiever. But I didn't try
to do many things, but the empty nest was like

(56:06):
a hard stop. I was just, you know, taken taken
over by that. So I know what you're going through.
Obviously you have it more under control than I did,
but it is it's weird your life change. You're like
when the kids left for college, I'm like, who am I?
I don't you know. My friend client asked me, well,
what do you want to do? I'll you talk about
your kids all the time, and I'm like, I don't

(56:27):
know who I am. I have to so after they left,
I had to kind of work on that. It's become
fun and this is one of my things that I started,
and I get to meet people around the world. I'll
be interviewing someone in Portugal and the Cayman Islands, and
I get to see you in Michigan, and hopefully I'll
meet George one day in person in Australia. So any
last words you want to share? Words of wisdom by

(56:49):
Gails Intact.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Well, I've been staring at this picture on my desk.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
This is this is my grandson.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
I sent this card to him on his first birthday
and I was going through my card history last summer
and I came across this card and I'm like, and
Cohen was coming up to his eighteenth birthday and so
in you know, I was able to resend this card

(57:19):
and so for his eighteenth birthday, I resent this card
to him and then you know, the inside is just
is just a picture of him and his mom, is dad,
and his big sister.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
But this is him now, you know, this strapping big boy.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
And we went to dinner and so I sent this
card to myself and I was able to give it
to Cohen at dinner on his eighteenth birthday, and just
just the vision of him looking opening this card and
seeing himself as a baby on there and then just
enjoying this, just the joy on his face and the

(57:59):
amazement of it with any other program, Like I couldn't
do that with any other program or a card that
I go buy at the store. And so my parting
words is pictures are worth a thousand words. And so
if you can find a picture that's meaningful to somebody

(58:22):
and you just celebrate them in that moment with that picture,
the return of the investment of your time, energy and
efforts is not going to be wasted.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Wow. That is beautiful. That is so true. I'm surprised
you haven't crashed the system with all the cards you sent.
I love it. And that's so incredible you were able
to go back and find that eighteen years ago. That's incredible.
And how can someone get how could our guests get
a hold of you? What's the best way?

Speaker 3 (58:55):
You know, the best way?

Speaker 2 (58:57):
I'm on Facebook and I'm on all the platforms. I
have been enjoying TikTok a lot lately just to kind
of share my now journey, you know, of who I
am now and how to be active and happy and
healthy in life.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
And live life to its fullest.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
But you know, mostly on Facebook or Instagram, Gail Zintech
And if you want to send me a message, I'll
see your message and I'll respond, and I'd love to
connect with you and just be an inspiration to you.
I just I'm pretty open book. You can scroll through
my Facebook and Instagram and you.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
See what you see is what you get. So oh,
I love it.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Well, thank you so much for taking your time. Have
a wonderful weekend, and I look forward to seeing you
again soon.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
Thank you, Debbie, I really appreciate being here today and sharing.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Tune in each week for another episode of Mastering the
Art of Real Estate with host Debbie Dematio. Here Friday's
New Eastern on the Bold Brave TV Network. Tune in
to wear real Estate Matters Matter

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