Selling is no easy task, and in a down economy, getting people to part with their hard-earned money presents an even greater challenge. But while consumers are clenching their pocketbooks tighter, the opportunity for sales professionals to meet their quotas may be better than ever, contend Bob Burg and John David Mann, co-authors of The Go-Giver. “The biggest inversion of all, the great upside-down misconception about sales, is that it is an effort to get something from others,” the authors write. “The truth is that sales at its best — that is, at its most effective — is precisely the opposite: it is about giving.”

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To that end, the authors offer these four tips for generating leads and increasing sales and referrals:

1. Create value. Sales lead generation and selling isn’t about making a sale. In fact, there’s no such thing as making a sale, but rather, creating value for other people through excellence, consistency, attention, empathy, and appreciation.

2. Touch people’s lives. Selling is based on creating value for the other person, but how you sell is dependent on your impact — how many lives you touch with that value. The more lives you touch, the greater your compensation. Why? Because of the word of mouth it generates. That drives more people to you than any other form of advertising or marketing.

3. Build networks. While we generally think of influence as the ability to get people to do what we want them to do, genuine influence sprouts from people who become known for helping other people get what they want. Great salespeople grow great networks because they focus their actions on looking out for other people’s interests and serving their needs.

4. Stay open. If you are unable to receive a sale gracefully, you bring the feeling of discomfort to the transaction, potentially hampering future sales or blowing the sale altogether. An inability to receive threatens the entire process and prohibits you from succeeding in sales.

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