FREEPORT – L.L. Bean Inc. is reporting strong sales for the start of the holiday buying season.

Rich Donaldson, spokesman for the outdoors outfitter, said phone calls for catalog orders on Tuesday were running 20 percent above projections. He added the company had its strongest one-day Internet sales ever on Monday, and that sales were particularly strong at its flagship Freeport store on Sunday.

“Everything’s clicking on all fronts right now,” Donaldson said. “It really bodes well.”

Donaldson said company officials will be tracking sales closely to see if the strong numbers continue, or if they represent a short-term burst because of the abbreviated holiday shopping season. With Thanksgiving falling on Nov. 28 this year, the shopping season is shorter than usual.

Some of the strong sales might be attributed to the free shipping the company is offering to customers through Dec. 21, Donaldson said. The heavy call volume might have jumped because the company’s largest catalog mailing arrived in homes during the past few days, he said.

Still, company officials are pleased with the early showing. Donaldson said sales picked up in late October and early November following a lackluster performance before that.

Donaldson said it was enough of an increase for Bean to hire about 300 more seasonal workers on top of the 3,600 that had already been hired for the holiday season. That number is still lower than the 4,400 seasonal workers who were hired last year.

Bean’s heaviest sales volume typically comes in the middle of December, Donaldson said.

This holiday shopping season is considered key for L.L. Bean as it attempts to revitalize itself following a decade of stagnant sales.

Sales have hovered around $1 billion a year for the better part of a decade, and the board has set a goal of increasing 5 percent to 10 percent a year.