Heartland is seeking to increase its sales engine as it strives to effectively penetrate key vertical markets, drive organic growth and maximize productivity among its sales force.

For two consecutive years - 2008 and 2009 - Heartland was named the top service company to sell for in the United States by Selling Power® magazine, affirming that Heartland offers one of the best direct sales opportunities in America.

"We are aggressively looking for good people who are dedicated to working hard and maximizing the many opportunities Heartland offers. We set out with an initial goal of hiring 1,299 sales professionals, and since March 26, we have already added 101 to our team," said Sanford Brown, Heartland's chief sales officer. "At a time when the national unemployment rate stands at 9.9 percent, we are happy to give qualified candidates the opportunity to remain in - or rejoin - the workforce."

To foster ongoing growth, Heartland has developed an Industry Specialization Model that is unique to the payments industry and focuses the company's sales organization on specific industries - restaurant, lodging and healthcare - and geographic areas. Heartland plans to hire 409 sales professionals focused on the restaurant industry, 669 focused on healthcare and 120 on lodging.

According to Brown, "Just as we enable businesses to succeed, we enable sales professionals to do the same by providing them with the necessary tools and training they need to become payments and industry subject matter experts and respected thought leaders. We have seen the value this expertise brings to business owners who are busy managing their operations. Our services empower them to focus on revenue generation, expense reduction and operational enhancements in addition to the management of their payments processing."