The last couple of years have been a challenge for salespeople in many regions. If this is true for you and/or your company, the time has again arrived in the business cycle for professional salespeople to place more emphasis on sales techniques that take business away from the competition.

Getting referrals is one such sales skill. I have never met a highly competitive and aggressive salesperson that believed that he or she ever has enough referrals -- the lifeblood of new business.

Like any sales tool, getting referrals is almost a science. It's hard work and must be pursued continuously. Here are eight tips for generating referrals:

1. Be generous with personal and professional favors. In the sales profession, "what goes around, comes around." Zig Zigler puts it this way in his lectures on selling, "To get everything in life that you want, all you have to do, is help enough other people get what they want."

Don't do favors for others strictly to induce them to do something nice for you; you'll be forever disappointed as you sit around waiting. But give for the sake of giving and you'll eventually receive a lot more in return than you gave in the first place.

2. Stay close to sales "influencers." Sales influencers are not necessarily decision-makers, but they have a lot of influence on those who do have the authority to make buying decisions. It may be a sub contractor who influences where the general contractor buys materials, or an architect, or designer.

Or it could be a shop foreman who influences the brand name or specifications for a new piece of manufacturing equipment.

Keep these kinds of influencers on your mailing list. Keep them informed. Look for ways to help the influencers solve their business problems.

3. Show an active interest in the interests of others. Arm yourself with an arsenal of questions that show that you have more than a casual interest in what is important to those in your network. Questions like:

* How did you happen to go into business for yourself?

* Who has had the most positive influence on your business philosophy?

* What are the primary business challenges you're facing this year?

* What are the biggest mistakes you have made since you went into business?

The people we find most in

teresting are the people who seem most interested in us.

4. Ask others for other people's business card. There's nothing wrong with handing out business cards, but you're more in charge of your destiny when you ask for someone else's business card. As a highly motivated salesperson, you'll hold onto their business card. Don't run the risk that your business card will be thrown away at the first opportunity.

5. Don't take referrals for granted. Like most business owners, I enjoy sending business in the direction of salespeople who look like they could use a break. But also like most referral-givers, I appreciate being appreciated. Always send a thank-you note each time you receive a referral even if it didn't immediately lead to an order.

6. Stay prominent in the minds of your referrals. I encourage salespeople to send copies of magazine articles, inexpensive, but informative paperback books, magazine subscriptions, picture postcards, etc., to the people who are in a position to send business their way. If someone you know is mentioned (favorably) in a newspaper or magazine article, be especially diligent to clip it out and drop it in the mail with a short note of congratulations.

Remember that out of sight is out of mind, even though there are lot more ways these days to remain in a prospect's "sight” without necessarily being in his presence.

7. Send business leads to those who send you business. Nothing is more impressive than to receive a business lead, or better yet, an order, without having to work for it. These blue birds are worth their weight in gold with respect to marketing yourself.

8. Communicate with postcards imprinted with your name, phone number, and photograph. If you select the 5" x 3" size, it will fit nicely into a No. 10 business-size envelope.

Top earning salespeople spend almost as much time networking as they spend selling.

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