I’ve heard from a number of people privately asking about the prospects for another BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix this May. So far I’ve not done anything about this — this for a couple of reasons.
First, I don’t know what to do in terms of content. We’re doing a lot of interesting things, but I’m not sure it’s the kind of material I can teach. Of course, there’s all kinds of other stuff out there, but I’m not sure how it coheres.
Second, I don’t know what to do about the show. The format we used last year — 72 hours of total immersion — was very successful, but it was also a boatload of work. (When the RE.net trolls get caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they like to come here and insist that Unchained is a profit-making business. I’m sure my wife will be gratified to learn this.)
To my mind, the most satisfying Unchained experience so far was the
Scenius on Swallow Hill Road. Not the show we did in Orlando, which was good, but the more or less continuous Scenius we ran from the house we rented as our accommodations for the trip.
That’s an appealing scenario, but it’s decidedly limited in the number of people who can attend. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — for me — but it might not work so well for you.
So: I think I need to hear from you. If you want to do Unchained this year, speak up. But if you do want to do this, be prepared to put up your money. Whatever we choose for meeting space and accommodations, they’re going to want to see the dough before they commit to anything.
Here’s my pledge, in return: If we do Unchained this year, we will do it to nine decimal places, as always. We will take you places no one else is going, to put you even further beyond your competition.
But don’t dawdle. I’m going to have to make a go or no-go decision shortly. If you want to do Unchained this year, make the leap now.
Jeff Brown says:
I wonder if a nuts ‘n bolts approach to showing agents ‘how to’ would be the ticket. Yeah, I know, it’s what you’ve done mostly anyway. But I’m talkin’ about getting even more down and dirty.
An example segment might be your 20-something point manifesto on selling your listings. It’s been just about fail safe for me, as I swear by it. Also, prospecting for listings old school, while attaching a 2.0 factor.
January 11, 2010 — 9:36 am
Scott Schang says:
Each of the past two AZ unchained events has for me has resulted in unpresidented bursts of innovative accomplishment formy business.
Reflecting on where I derived the greatest value was the relationships with fellow hounds that continued and grew after the event.
Perhaps a scenious summit would be a valuable format. A gathering of innovative, like minded hounds sharing ideas and innovations would be a most inviting prospect.
That’s my .02
Thanks for everything you do Greg and Brian.
January 11, 2010 — 9:47 am
Greg Swann says:
> Thanks for everything you do Greg and Brian.
As a matter of disclosure, this iteration of Unchained will have me only handling the bolt cutters.
January 11, 2010 — 12:30 pm
Scott Cowan says:
Count me in! I think that a gathering of hounds is of great value. Even without a specific agenda. Just bouncing ideas off one another would generate great results.
Jeff’s old school with web 2.0 twist would be of great value for example. Imagine skinning cats using the latest tools that others are not working with.
January 11, 2010 — 2:34 pm
Don Reedy says:
Every Unchained has been hard work. How about a SPA treatment for the next Unchained?
Okay, SPA…..
That’s S for “Scenius”
That’s P for “Praxis”
That’s A for “Anakainoo”
In other words, let’s throw a Toga Party!! We’ll renew ourselves, but renew with a purpose.
A communal genius, able to be perfected through practice, for the purpose of renewing ourselves. I have ideas for subjects (you know they just pop in and out of my head), but ultimately a class taught by Albert Einstein is going to be interesting whether on Quantum Physics, Philosophy, or simply being an iconic Jewish figure. (Just read Albert made the list of the “Most Influential Jewish People of All Time” — behind Moses, but ahead of Howie Mandell).
Think about the concept. The content will flow into it from our own passions.
January 11, 2010 — 3:49 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
I would vote for a virtual gathering. There’s got to be some virtual meeting software out there that pushes the envelope farther than the meeting platforms I have seen so far…
January 11, 2010 — 6:26 pm
Greg Swann says:
> I would vote for a virtual gathering.
Actually… That’s interesting…
There’s an acronym that’s been making me nuts lately: HDMI. Every new HD-TV is potentially a huge-screen computer monitor.
What if we combined Don’s SPA idea with a virtual unconference?
Ten or so of us come here for the Scenius thing, then we stream everything we do for three days. Two or three presentation rooms, some formal, some not. Maybe six or eight channels of video, so you can see the screen and the presenter at the same time. As many virtual attendees as want to come, for as long as each one can make the time available. Then make everything available by streaming MOVies so people can catch up or refresh.
That could be wicked cool…
Reactions?
January 11, 2010 — 6:57 pm
Chris Johnson says:
OK, here’s what I would like to do with an “unconference” (gawd I hate that name).
Prove it. Prove it right here and right now. Prove that you can generate leads and listings and appointments in the marketplace.
Prove that you can make PPC leads comethrough and convert them into appointments with QUALITY people. Prove that you can use search.twitter.com (as Ian did) to convert people into real live sales.
As Bruce Springsteen said, prove it all night.
Not a bunch of webgeeks dicking around, but a bunch of barenuckled salespeople kicking down doors and gaining market share.
I would want a weekend where, instead of fiction we get to fact.
January 11, 2010 — 7:20 pm
Chris Johnson says:
Putting a finer point on it, I’d love a completely new agent in a market with a scarce web presence. Hell, even a fictional agent would be fine.
We get that agent listing appointments based on search marketing, based on PPC, based on social media marketing. And we show how yeah, this is an abundant world. We take the risk, we make it public, and we prove that this can be done.
Then, no matter what we charge, the RE.NET will be left where they started–all looking to suck at the teets of the corn fed, vc funded vendor of the moment.
January 11, 2010 — 7:23 pm
Ryan Hartman says:
Wicked cool for sure. Maybe a few days of debaucherous brainstormin toga followed by a few days of actual implemenation of the ideas that come of it?
January 11, 2010 — 7:24 pm
Don Reedy says:
Chris, is this your way of saying “Toga, toga…..?”
Cheryl….see what you started.
Greg…..the dogs are howling.
January 11, 2010 — 7:39 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Greg…..the dogs are howling.
Yeah. Me, too.
Teri and I have been kicking this ball around by email, and also Scott Cowan and I, separately by email. The SPA idea was appealing to me, ab initio, but it didn’t seem all that practical. Good for those who get to come, but not all that strong on cost-recovery.
Virtual conferencing leaves me cold, FWIW. But so does conferencing as such. D-speak: I always feel like I can learn more, faster just by reading whatever is the source material.
But I know that the material we have put on in the past has been very beneficial to the audience. And despite my surly anti-sociability, I always enjoy the time I get to spend with the bright lights of wired real estate.
So is this a plan?
If it is, what’s the content? Inlookers, if you have proposal ideas, hit me by email. Figure one hour or two hours for a formal presentation. I don’t hate it if you do more than one, provided you can deliver the goods.
Note that there will be limited bed space, so bring your A-game.
I’ll listen to vendors, too, with fairly strict limitations. And if any Realty.bot out there still has any money, naming rights are up for grabs. This ain’t going to be cheap to pull off.
I think this could be really cool, Don. The Scenius at Swallow Hill Road with a potentially-infinite on-line audience. A real estate reality show streaming in real time…
Hey, HGTV, I know you’re out there. Are you paying attention? We need money, you need content, and we can deliver a killer show for our audience with say 72 x 3 or 72 x 4 hours of content for you to cut together for the edification of consumers. That would rock, too…
The right idea is a gift that just keep on giving…
January 11, 2010 — 8:10 pm
Chris Johnson says:
I just think marketers should be held accountable for their results. Why don’t we give a handful of people $500 bucks, and then see who can throw off the most real live listing leads in x days, by any means necessary…
January 11, 2010 — 8:06 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Why don’t we give a handful of people $500 bucks, and then see who can throw off the most real live listing leads in x days, by any means necessary…
Hell, yeah. That’s a brilliant idea!
January 11, 2010 — 8:12 pm
Ryan Hartman says:
hmm… $500/.4 * 404 … yeah man. awesome idea… can’t wait.
January 11, 2010 — 9:46 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
>>>>Ten or so of us come here for the Scenius thing, then we stream everything we do for three days. Two or three presentation rooms, some formal, some not. Maybe six or eight channels of video, so you can see the screen and the presenter at the same time. As many virtual attendees as want to come, for as long as each one can make the time available. Then make everything available by streaming MOVies so people can catch up or refresh.<<<<<
Thank you, Greg! That describes the virtual conference I have fantasized about for years.
January 12, 2010 — 5:25 am
Scott Schang says:
Yeah, wicked cool for sure. Let me know if there’s room for talk about finding buyers online.
January 12, 2010 — 9:06 am
Al Lorenz says:
My suggestion is to hear not just about brokerage sales techniques, but hear some of the other ways we can skin cats in this business. I love hearing Baldguy on his thoughts of where to put his and his clients’ money to make more of it.
I’m carefully looking at the market and how to thaw and make hay with some of my projects that I’ve frozen for the last 18 months. Could we open it up a bit beyond hunting down leads?
And, count me in.
January 12, 2010 — 11:03 am
Greg Swann says:
> Could we open it up a bit beyond hunting down leads?
I love your post on developing new inventory. I have maybe half-a-dozen all-cash investors who are eager for us to put them into the flipping game — and, of course, in most recovering markets flipping is going to be eminently doable going forward. Adding new inventory in Phoenix is coals to Newcastle, but you are quite right that there are lots of ways for people who really understand real estate to make money.
That’s kinda-sorta the direction CRS 204 has taken, concentrating not on investor representation but on direct investment by Realtors. There’s a seminar mechanic — I’ve forgotten his name — who trains Realtors to become investors and developers.
That’s a cool line of thinking, but I’m not wrapping my head all the way around it in the context of Unchained. That’s not a criticism. If I were to pick a topic that most interests me right now, I would choose the idea of integrity as the intersection between ethics and salesmanship.
I’m not running down acquiring leads or skinning cats, etc., but I am doubly jaundiced on the trickster aspect of that stuff.
The Web 2.0 world is the death of lies. This is what I’ve loved about it, since forever, long before interaction was easy. I’m more than a little dismayed that so much of the RE.net has turned into something that looks to me like an avant garde vampire clique, new-jive hucksters aligned with and marching in lockstep with the old-guard vampires. Hi-tech, lo-tech, new-tech, no-tech: What does it matter as long as we’re bleeding the punters white?
That’s what I don’t want.
From the beginning, BloodhoundBlog Unchained has been about breaking the chains that bind real estate practitioners to one cadre of bloodsuckers or another — without becoming bloodsuckers ourselves.
I think that’s a potent and powerful idea. But is it a popular idea? One that can draw a crowd?
The NAR was built on the premise that successful real estate brokerage consists of keeping secrets and telling lies — a philosophy that persists unchanged to this very day. In one of the videos I made last fall, I hit on an alternative formulation that I like a lot better:
Our profession consists of making and keeping promises.
Which I guess is a long way of saying that my goal, still and always, is largely evangelical. I want for good real estate practitioners to learn how to make better money. But I want for those folks to make better money by being better people.
Enough maundering. Al and everyone: Tell me what I’m missing? Tell me where I’m wrong? Tell me what perfection looks like to you?
January 13, 2010 — 12:37 am
Chris Johnson says:
500 X 24 X fictional agent.
January 12, 2010 — 3:16 pm
Chris Johnson says:
Keeping promises. That’s the rub, ain’t it? Get great at that and everything follows. Keep on executing and raising the bar ever higher, and ADMIT YOU effed up, and things get good.
Realize that we’re failing today–at the practice of our businesses. I feel guilty for the $1500 blogs I sold 2 years ago, and I feel guilty for the $800 blogs I sold six months ago. I feel good about the $800 blogs I’m selling now, but I’m sure that I’ll be guilty in a few months time….
…because we can increase the standards that we uphold and decimate the competition using the new tools that are easy and free.
January 13, 2010 — 1:11 pm
Scott Schang says:
Greg – “Tell me what perfection looks like to you?”
I look at this as three primary functions where we as professionals should inventory our efforts.
First: Getting Found
This is the advantage that 2.0 people have. Social media, blogging, video, gonzo marketing – This is a skill set that is embraced by hounds, but not most of our competition.
Second: Give ’em What they Want – (The Promise)
“The web 2.0 world is the death of lies” – YES, for those of us that use it correctly. We now have the ability to expose our clients to the RIGHT way of thinking. I make money by closing loans, but my business is to – “Educate and empower, enabling you to make more informed decisions in the home buying process”
It’s about ethics, education, value and “bleeding the punters white” by contrast to our content.
Third: Delivering on your word
When consumer advocacy is the paramount in your efforts to conduct your business – You need first to know your product, be professional, have expertise – Then, we have to deliver this expertise consistently.
Looking at these three legs that support our business, there are Unchained lessons to learn to help develop each.
1. Prospecting – Both message and method. There is much to explore here, and you do it every day on this blog
2. Client Experience – This is the process of turning a prospect into a raving fan throughout the process. This is the relationship that is built up until you are able to deliver on your promises.
3. Follow up and Referrals – Delivering on your promises and building a strong referral partner in the process. Raving fans cannot stop telling people about you.
That’s my take on Perfection. Developing these foundations of the “Expertise” process into systems that we are able to maintain and tweak as the tides change.
January 14, 2010 — 10:39 am