The Countdown to Blastoff —Farquharson/Tedesco

• A daily sales goal. That is, how many calls will you make each day at minimum for the month of September. Given that the selling time period in question is finite, feel free to stretch a bit and challenge yourself.

• 1,000cc of diligence. Read: Git 'er done!

• Some accountability and a reward. Do you know why we pay personal trainers $50 an hour to stand over us, drink coffee and count to 20 while we do sit-ups? Because we need someone to hold us accountable, otherwise we'll do the work for a day and then come up with an excuse, and the process breaks down. You need to employ a whip and a carrot so that the sales goals are met.

October: On the first selling day of the month, rethink your sales goal and adjust it up or down. Do you have more in you? Could you make just one more call per day? Do it! As the month progresses, start to fine-tune your selling efforts, changing what you say and the voice mail messages you leave.

You should also think about the kinds of accounts you are approaching and reconsider your target market. Next, improve your sales efficiency and tinker with your time management efforts.

November: Crunch time! It's the home stretch and, by now, you should have a pool of "likelies." That is, try to collect a list of prospects that you believe are likely candidates, even if you have done nothing but leave unanswered voice mail messages. The end is near. Push through and finish strong.

Work hard between September and November, and Santa will reward you with a nice fat sales stocking. Work hard between September and November, and you will roar into the New Year with your name at the top of the leader board. Ignore this advice only if you're married to a buyer at a pro-print corporation (a better plan would be to have several such spouses).