Tim Sackett and I were in Omaha on Tuesday to speak at HRAM, the Omaha area chapter of SHRM.  Topic - Raise Your HR Game By Thinking Like a Money-Hungry VP of Sales.

Slide show appears below, as does the session description for our talk at HRAM.  Good times.  Great SHRM chapter.  Thanks to all the good folks at HRAM for having us.

Want to be more like a VP of Sales as an HR Pro?  Check out the slides, then do like Tim did in Omaha and get a massive upgrade to the midsize rental we were counting on.  Picture appears below...

That's right - that's the "upgrade" from midsize he negotiated.  Classic.  

Email and RSS subscribers - click through if you can't see the presentation below...

True Story:  HR Pros Kris Dunn and Time Sackett don't dislike salespeople...They LOVE salespeople and think HR needs to be more like a high-octane sales organization to generate the best possible results.  In this session, Kris and Time identify the 5 hardcore sales tactics with the greatest upside to HR pros, then proceed to outline how you can put the tactics in play in your HR practice.  The result is a road-map of how to make your HR practice function more like a results-driven Sales organization, featuring a sales contest with the following prizes:  First prize: A new Cadillac Eldorado. Second Prize: A set of steak knives.  Third Prize: You're Fired.    
 
We kid.  But you get the idea.
 
Need more details?  In htis HRAM keynote, Kris and Tim will roll out some of the usual ways that HR pros get played as victims, including the following gems:

     Your Softness - Being a victim of someone else's unreasonable expectations;
     Being Poor/Position of Weakness - Having no Budget for new tools the HR team desperately needs;
     Handling Snakes - Dealing with slippery types who talk in elusive circles;
     No Status/Without Clout- Not having the influence necessary to create necessary change; and
     Nice Gals/Guys Finish Last - Having difficulty getting buy-in during difficult conversations.

Does that sound like your average week?  Are you tired of feeling like a victim repeatedly in these circumstances?  Good - because Kris and Tim will outline your pain, then tell you what a money-hungry VP of Sales would do in each of these circumstances since he's unconstrained by emotions like feelings, guilt or the expectation that he's there to make others feel good.
 
Translation - you don't want to be the VP of Sales, but you can learn from him.