Call me a shrewd negotiator or color me lucky but I pulled off a coup for the folks coming in for the Sunday session of the BloodhoundBlog Unchained Social Media Marketing Conference, brought to you by Zillow.com.

I was spending my Saturday evening online and e-mailed Wonderful Russ, asking him to give me some time, on Sunday afternoon. There are two things you need to know about Russell Shaw: (1) his accomplishments dictate that you should schedule appointments for his time (2) his welcoming nature affords you an open door, so that it isn’t always a requirement. You’ll have to travel very far to meet a man more welcoming than Russell.

Russell is a night owl, like I am. I think it’s because he is most creative at night; I know my best creative thinking comes after 10PM. I wasn’t surprised and was certainly delighted when his invitation to talk came immediately.

“Call me now- I’ll pick up,” he beckoned.

When Russell Shaw invites you to call, you just do it. Let me give you some background, first:

I lived in Phoenix for 12 years. I’ve been a lender there, since 1995. Anyone familiar with Phoenix knows that Russell is an institution. Everyone within reach of the Phoenix television and radio airwaves knows Russell. I’ve watched Russell lose weight and gain gray hair, over the years, as THE spokesman for Maricopa County real estate. His presence is overwhelming with his plain-spoken “no- hassle listing” offering.

If you’re stuck on Interstate 10, driving into work, you’ll hear this, on the radio. When you return home from work and settle down to enjoy the Diamondbacks game, you’ll see this, on the television. Ubiquity is Russell’s middle name. It is not a mistake that I’ve modeled his offline presence with my own brand of online ubiquity. I’m not brilliant, just smart enough to model successful people.

I’ve hardly started and I could continue for hours. While Russell’s success is chronicled in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, a true testament to his success comes from a story from last Spring.

Russell hosted a lecture series (for FREE) that Bloodhound Blog, North American Title, and World Wide Credit Corporation sponsored. You can get all of the podcasts of his presentation, here (you have to have a FREE Active Rain membership). I was elected to introduce Russell for session two. Prior to the event, I was at my sister’s home in Phoenix. When I revealed my evening activity, my sister stood up straight (all 5′2″ of her), lowered her voice to imitate Russell’s melodic baritone, and said,

If you don’t like it…FIRE me.

That’s branding, folks.

Sorry for the digression. I felt the background was imperative. The coup I pulled off was merely being in the right place at the right time. It’s no secret that Russell will engage Redfin’s Glenn Kelman in a Presidential-style debate, to close out UNCHAINED. I fully expect that the presence of two leaders, debating the merits of two distinctly different business models, will be interesting enough. Still, Russell had more up his sleeve.

You see, Russell desperately wants to help real estate agents. Desperately may be a strong word, perhaps willingly is more appropriate. He’s reached the pinnacle of his profession and chooses to openly share his success with agents thirsting for that knowledge. He does it at StarPower, CRS Sell-A-Bration, and the National Association of Realtors.

During our midnight call, the topic turned to UNCHAINED. Russell openly asked how he could help…more. I seized the opportunity to have Russell host an “UNPLUGGED” session, for two hours, on Sunday afternoon. Here, you can ask Russell any question you’d like about real estate brokerage and marketing. I predict that the Heard Museum will kick us out and Russell will be answering your questions in the parking lot; he’s just that compelling and enthusiastic.

What’s this mean to you? Russell traditionally nets seven figures annually. You can reserve your spot, with him, for less than $200, now.

Of course, that’s not all you’ll get for your money. We’re going to feed you lunch, on Monday and Tuesday. We’ll have snacks, all three days. We’ll give you free wireless internet during the duration of the seminar. You’ll get DVD recordings of the event so you can review what you’ve learned, all year long. The price includes a workbook, a journal of sorts, for you to chronicle all that you learn.

Get Russell, the food, the wireless internet, the workbook, and the DVDs for $199.

Sunday will be funday but you’ll get some great ideas. Ron Cates of Constant Contact has agreed to host a workshop called, “The Power of E-mail Marketing“. While he offers that seminar free to ConstantContact members, the knowledge you’ll gain about e-mail marketing, done correctly, could be worth thousands of dollars to your bottom line.

Laurie Manny and Teri Lussier will be on stage, discussing how to build a local real estate weblog. Teri was Greg Swann’s apprentice in the Project Blogger contest and hosts The Brick Ranch, in Dayton, OH. Laurie owns the Google search term ““Long Beach Real Estate”. No extra charge for their knowledge; you get it for $200, inclusive.

BawldGuy Jeff Brown will be discussing his comment marketing strategy. That’s a fancy way of saying that Jeff gains valuable referrals, for his investment practice, by actively commenting on real estate weblogs. Of course, there’s more to it than JUST commenting and Jeff will share that with you at UNCHAINED. Jeff’s another seven figure guy so you guess what an extended consultation with him costs.

Ya see where I’m going with this? I haven’t even gotten to Mary McKnight, Professor Greg, or my goofy marketing ideas.

I’ll throw in a zinger — David Gibbons. Is there a better online reputation manager than David Gibbons? What Would David Gibbons Do? is a mantra we use here at BloodhoundBlog when we discuss online reputation management. Forget what you’d PAY someone like David, focus on the thousands of dollars he’ll SAVE you by teaching you what NOT to do.

Barry Cunningham was SPEECHLESS when I told him what we were charging for UNCHAINED. Now, Barry’s not prone to speechlessness so he immediately chastised me for not charging enough. Fortunately, I explained the value proposition of this conference and convinced him and his partner, Barry Johnson, to broadcast live, from UNCHAINED, on Real Estate Radio USA.

The Barrys will be introducing their project, Agent Rockstar, at UNCHAINED. They’re convinced that they can develop their talented producer, Lindsay Richardson, into a budding mega-agent…strictly from the resources available to her from her Rolodex. You’ll have someone to benchmark after you leave the seminar.

Many of you have asked about purchasing the DVD set, after the event. The DVD set and the workbooks go on sale, now, for the price of the event. Buy the DVD set and we’ll throw in the UNCHAINED seminar for free. Why won’t I discount the DVDs? The answer is simple — we’ve discounted the event. The DVD price will go up to the full $350 when the event price rises- and that will be soon.

Reserve the DVDs or seminar admission for the same price, $199, today.

Without the Zillow.com support, we couldn’t offer this “market downturn” special price; it just wouldn’t pencil out. What Zillow offers in financial support, Russell Shaw offers in moral support. Snaring his UNPLUGGED session was really a bonus. I hope you’ll enjoy the seminar, as much as I will, next month.

PS: I know we’re delivering the goods but you don’t. I said this to Vance Shutes, who’s traveling from Michigan, and I’ll say it to you. This isn’t a beauty contest. While there will be networking opportunities and plenty of fun, Greg and I are hell-bent on giving you thousands of dollars of value for your seminar fee.

If you’re not satisfied with your investment, before, during, or after the event (or receipt of the workbook and DVDs) , simply tell us. We’ll refund all of your money, no questions asked.

PPS: I don’t anticipate this discount to last . Sean Purcell and I gave a “warm-up” presentation, to a packed house at San Diego’s Commonwealth Title, yesterday. I spoke to a group in La Quinta, last week. Greg Swann and I will be talking to 3-4 groups, in Phoenix, over the next few weeks. Greg promised a “guerrilla’ discount to those of you who jumped early.

It’s no surprise that I’ve been WANTING to raise the price because the masses don’t recognize the value at this low price. Greg’s your best friend; he wants to keep this ultra-affordable for the folks in the trenches, trying to make it big in this tough market. I will eventually win this battle. Don’t wait for that to happen. Whether you’re planning to come to sunny Phoenix for BloodhoundBlog Unchained or buying the “home study” version in the form of the DVDs and workbook, commit your funds now before the price goes up…

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Here’s a valuable question for the Web 2.0 world: Can people really appreciate a bargain? Everybody loves “free” — but do they love it at full value? My thinking is that LinkedIn would be a much more valuable place to network if it charged members $350 a year, but would anyone pay a buck a day for Facebook?

This is a question that has been bugging Brian Brady — gnawing at him as only a good marketing problem can. We priced BloodhoundBlog Unchained at $149 and sold a bunch of tickets. We bumped the price to $199 and sold a bunch more. We’re getting to the point where we’re going to have to make seating distribution choices — and Brian wants to raise the price to our estimated retail — dollarized — value: $350.

We know that amount is low. The next time we do this, the early-bird price will be more than that, and the last-minute price will be more than double that amount. We’re going to give you a year’s worth of ideas to deploy, so, even at $350, we’re still only a buck a day. If you do just one extra deal as a result of something you learn at Unchained, the ROI could be 20-1 or more.

Looked at that way, Brian is right: It’s plausible that, by charging too little, we’re encouraging people to set their expectations too low. I find that amazing, considering how much value we deliver here at BloodhoundBlog every day. But I was stunned to discover that people didn’t know that Unchained will not be the typical buy-me! buy-me! vendor show. I would have thought that my own graduated hostility to vendors would have made that plain.

In the other corner, there is me, slugging it out for the starving grunts in the trenches. No one is really starving — I hope! — but our lean months have become our lean years, and there ain’t too many of us getting fat off the fat of the land just now. I would rather keep the price as low as we can for as long as we can, just to help people get even more bang for the buck.

But — fair warning — the time is nigh. At some point fairly soon, we will be raising the price to $350. If you want to get Unchained for $199 for all three days, or for $149 for the two-day main conference, you need to get going. That extra hundred-and-fifty bucks will buy a lot of Margaritas at the end of the conference sessions.

At some point, I will be the advocate for higher prices — much higher prices. When we know for sure that all the real Guerrillas have bought their tickets, I will want to raise the price on the remaining supply to the Inmanosphere Special Price: Four figures for standing-room-only — with no lunch or cookie breaks.

Details:

• Dates: Sunday, May 18 through Tuesday, May 20, 2008

• Hours: 8 am to 4 pm for all three days
• Location: The Heard Museum Event Center in Downtown Phoenix, AZ
• Airlines: Southwest Airlines, USAirways and Alaska Airlines all have low-cost, frequent flights into Phoenix, as do many other airlines.
• Hotels: Click here for a map of nearby hotels
• Weather: Sunny and hot during the day (bring a bathing suit), cloudless and mild at night
• Food: Lunch and coffee and cookie breaks during the two-day main conference

If you’ve been thinking to yourself, “I need to sign up for Unchained when I get the time” — make the time. We’re going to have a ton of hard-headed, practical, money-making content. If you want proof of that, just work your way backwards through BloodhoundBlog and look at the material we’re covering here. But when the price goes up, it will go up by a lot. If you want to latch onto the bargain of the year in useful, on-target, no-sales-pitch Social Media Marketing training for Realtors, lenders and other real estate professionals, get your tickets for BloodhoundBlog Unchained now, before the price goes up.

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Nothing stands still in the world of Web 2.0. The initial Guerrilla-only price of $149 for the full three days of BloodhoundBlog Unchained is no more. A bunch of smart Guerrillas made the commitment while the price was at its lowest. But if you missed that opportunity — jump now. We’re still a smokin’ deal — and the price will only go up from here.

So what’s the damage now?

If you want to come for the full three-day conference, May 18-20, 2008, a ticket will set you back $199. That’s a $350 value, all told.

If you just want to come to the main event, a ticket for the two-day conference, May 19-20, 2008, will run you $149. Full retail value? $300.

You’re still getting a deep discount off the full list price, and you’ll still get a workbook for everything we cover in the main event, free copies of any software we distribute, a set of DVDs of the main event — and more.

The fact of the matter is, we would charge a lot more if we thought we could. This is our first conference, our reputation-maker. The next time we put on a show like this, it will cost a whole lot more.

Web 2.0 is a moving target, so no one is ever up-to-date. But this inaugural BloodhoundBlog Unchained event is your chance to get the most of what we have to offer at the lowest price it will ever be available.

So: Act now and save yourself some money.

No. Act now — and we’ll show you how to make more money.

Push your mouse up and to the right and click on one of those “Pay Now” buttons right now.

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After a hard-won fight to get the venue we wanted — The Heard Museum Event Center in Downtown Phoenix (about which much more later) — we’re finally ready to start selling tickets to BloodhoundBlog Unchained (about which much more here).

For the next three months, this weblog will be the fiery-hot forge of Unchained information. But — for now — the most important business is getting down to business.

The big, ugly question: What’s it all gonna cost?

The main two-day conference, May 19th and 20th, will run $200.

But we’re also doing a one-day pre-conference of tutorial break-outs and sponsored intensives on May 18th for $50.

And because the curriculum we’re covering is so in-depth, we’re offering a full set of DVDs of the main conference for $100.

All-told, you’re looking at $350 for the whole package.

But we said from the very beginning that we wanted to keep costs down. Yes, we’re going to a first-class conference venue. Yes, we’re dealing with the food, the snacks and the Wi-Fi hook-up. You’ll even get a work-book — along with a year’s worth of marketing work to be done. But BloodhoundBlog has always been about the Guerrillas, the grunts on the ground. If you’re willing to act fast, we’re willing to cut you a great deal.

Like this: Click on that “Pay Now” button up on the top right corner of the page and you’ll get the Guerrilla rate — $149 for everything: All three days of the conference plus the DVDs when they’re ready to ship.

Hey, nothing’s for nothing, right? The truth is, we don’t have that many seats to sell. We could probably hold out for the higher price and still sell out. But we want to make sure that the real Guerrillas, the people who have been paying attention all along, reap the benefit of having such eager minds. You’ve already made a big commitment to us. This is our way of paying it back to you.

But: Don’t dawdle. As soon as half the seats are gone, the price will go up.

Click here for information about hotels, the venue, etc. But go buy your tickets right now, before you forget — and before this Guerrilla-only special offer goes away.

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