Congratulations On a Record … 2026?

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It’s New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2026, and a coworker hands you a glass of champagne while she says, “Congratulations on a record year. You were the No. 1 sales rep. Would you mind sharing any tips with me? I’d sure like to be in your position this time next year.”

Up until that point, you hadn’t really thought about it. Sure, you had a plan, but you were so busy running it that you never really thought about where the success started or how you got to the No. 1 position. “Well,” you reply, “What I try to do is to look at the year in smaller chunks and then create a micro plan for each. As I think about it, my 2026 success started about 15 months ago. Let me see if I can break it down for you. ”

Fall 2025: Laying the Foundation for Success

Given that the selling cycle in print is three to six months, the key to having a great Q1 is to prospect like crazy from Labor Day until Thanksgiving of the year before. First, you need to secure existing accounts. Then, it comes down to new business, both from current clients and new ones. The seeds to my success were planted in September, October, and November of 2025:

Talking with existing clients — Most companies tie their fiscal year to the calendar year. It’s during this end-of-year time span that they do something crazy while looking ahead. The “crazy” happens when they look to spend leftover budget money like a drunken sailor so that they don’t lose it the following year. I happily help them with this “problem.” Second, I know that companies look ahead and make growth plans during this time frame. I can help, but only if they know what I can do. So I offer to sit with them and provide an education on the capabilities of my equipment. In addition, I put some time into studying their industry so I can help them get to their next level and perhaps even make some suggestions. At best, new orders follow. At worst, it lets my clients know I am keeping them top of mind and constantly bringing them new ideas. After all, I’m well aware they are under constant bombardment from my competition and I need to remind them I’m still working for their business. At the same time this is going on, I am ...

Looking for my next great customers — I know I’m going to lose 10% to 15% of my repeat business year to year, so I use this chunk of time to begin the process of finding the three or four new great clients that will replace whatever I might lose, and then some. First, I put some thought into my existing customer base and look for similarities. Next, I feed the names into my custom GPT and ask it to kick out suggestions. Then, I look to see if we have any history with those companies while doing some research (traditional and via AI). At the same time, I look through my LinkedIn account to see if I have any connections with those prospects. Throughout this process, I typically eliminate about a third of the companies that have been identified. This is fine, since it saves me time. Speaking of time, I know I am being deliberate in my selection process, but it is intentional. I’m not as available as I was back when I was just starting out, so I have to make the most of my limited opportunity to add new customers. This starts with putting extra effort into identifying and researching the right prospective accounts. I’m not just looking for my next account. I’m looking for my next great customer. In fact, I even used that language in the prospecting process to land that business!

Q1: Get to Work

When the ball dropped and 2026 began, I already had significant momentum while everybody else was making New Year’s resolutions and empty promises on what 2026 would bring. I had identified several opportunities and was able to lead the sales pack right out of the gate. What a great feeling to have a few wins in the bank. Knowing that Q1’s success comes from Q4’s sales activities is a key concept to embrace.
It’s during January, February, and March that I find myself putting in more hours than at any other time of year. And why not? It’s cold and dark outside and the extra work I put in now will pay off down the road not just in dollars and cents but also when someone calls me on a sunny Tuesday in July and asks if I want to get in a few holes of golf. So, I’ll put in a few weekend work hours while others are watching football games.

Q2: Summer Slowdown? What Summer Slowdown?

If September through the end of November are the three most important selling months of the year, then April through the end of June is No. 2. Why? Because what you do or don’t do in that time frame dictates your summer sales numbers. So, I hit the reset button, review the opportunities I have uncovered, and come up with an entirely new sales activity goal for the quarter.

I want to stop and emphasize this. Part of my winning strategy is to set short-term (never longer than three months) targets. I do this because they are long enough to make a difference but short enough to where you can see the finish line from the starting line. This is why I consider sales-focused New Year’s resolutions to be useless. Depending on the number and quality of opportunities I have in play, I adjust my daily/weekly activity goals, making sure they are reasonable and achievable.

I also want to shine a light on a word I keep using: opportunities. These are customer engagements that I believe have the potential to become orders. I have a spreadsheet set up, listing everything I have going on and then recording what needs to be done week after week. This gives me a visual scorecard and tells me if I need to ramp up my numbers.

Q3: The Wild Cards

In a perfect world, everyone goes on vacation in July and August. However, Cape Cod simply cannot handle anymore than it currently holds, so we must take turns. This makes for an uneven summer. Come to think of it, December is just as much a variable month. So, I approach each week differently, adjusting to the presence or absence of my key contacts. Some projects will be concluded while others will remain open-ended. I try to stay patient, knowing that my priorities are not my customers’ priorities.

And that brings us back to the fall and my setup for the new year. Anyone looking to have a strong sales year needs to get started in the fall. If you wait until Jan. 1, you are lagging behind the top reps.

When you are done talking, the coworker says, “Wow. You are so right. I wish someone had put this in an article back in the fall of 2025 when I could have done something about it.”