March 2011
In this issue:

HTS 2011
Webinar Series
Every month HTS hosts a webinar, bringing in our own and industry experts to introduce and explain tools and solutions that can help your business grow. We want to keep all of our clients well-informed and up-to-date on the latest solutions available to you.

This Month’s Topic:
Is Your Website All It Should Be?
What’s in it for you? When was the last time you analyzed your company’s website? Is it accomplishing everything you would like it to? Is it easy to navigate and read? These are all things to consider when deciding if your website is up to par with how you would like it to be working.

Join us on Tuesday, April 5th at 10 AM when our own Larry Hedin, VP of Sales & Marketing explains how your website could be holding you back and shows how a simple evaluation might uncover areas that could drastically increase the performance of this important marketing tool. As an extra, we’ll show you some tips on how you can leverage email marketing to increase the traffic to your website.

REGISTER HERE!

Did you miss last month’s webinar?
Don’t worry, you can still watch it. Last month we hosted a webinar with Mitel and we covered a lot of great information. We looked some of the many solutions that we now offer through our partnership with Mitel and how they can help you reduce operating costs and solve the daily challenges of communicating.
Click here to watch the recording and see all of the webinars we have hosted!

Virtual Office Management
by Jeff Wuorio
used with permission from the Microsoft Small Business website

Carole Martin has a marketing expert upon whom she relies for sharp ideas and provocative sales angles.

What's interesting about this is that the two have never met face to face. Their business relationship is truly "virtual."

"It takes many skills and personality types to run a business, even a small business. You really can't do it alone," says Martin, a Burlingame, Calif., writer and coach. "It's a strange world we live in."

Strange, but increasingly common. Yes, welcome to the burgeoning world of the virtual office, where businesses have a mission and focus — but have personnel as far flung as the planet allows. On top of the usual challenges that businesses face, a successful virtual-office business requires a whole new set of strategies.

But here are seven ways to help make one work.

Webcast Strategy
by Joanna L. Krotz
used with permission from the Microsoft Business Site

Now that the costs are reasonable, the technology friendly, and the hosting services hassle-free, it's hard to resist the benefits of webcasts. As a result, demand is growing. The worldwide market for real-time and team-based collaboration technologies is now about $681 million and expected to top $1 billion by 2008, according to market researcher Gartner.

Business-to-business marketers of all sizes and types are discovering they can save money and boost sales by engaging in collaborative web conferencing. It's worth checking out. Here are six things to know before you do.

Reduce Employee Turnover through Appropriate Rewards Programs
By Craig Kitch
www.craigkitch.com

I just finished reading “The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance” by Gostick and Elton. I have long been a fan of employee recognition but always struggled with how so many companies allow it to become blasé. Sometimes it even turns into an entitlement program when team members complain that they have not had “their turn” as employee of the month.

So many managers begin a rewards and recognition program with the best of intentions only to have it become a waste of time and a drain on the bottom line. The monthly sandwich or pizza lunch in the conference room seems to lose its luster after a year or so. The standard pat on the back and $25 gift certificate to a local eatery for exceptional performance can become an insult. The problem is that most managers have no idea how to implement an effective recognition and rewards program.

Read on

Simplify Repetitive Actions with Quick Steps
Microsoft Office Demo

Many of the most common actions most people take on e-mail messages involve multiple steps. For example, reply to a message and then move it to another folder, or forward a message to your team. Outlook 2010 includes Quick Steps, a gallery of commands that turn these multiple-step tasks into one click. Watch this video to see how Quick Steps help you act on your e-mail messages more efficiently, and how to make custom Quick Steps to do your own repetitive tasks.

www.heartlandtechnologies.com