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: