  An accurate determination of the Higgsstrahlung cross section is one of the
main objectives at a future electron-positron collider. It allows for the only
Higgs boson decay model independent measurement of the total Higgs width.
Current results use the recoil mass shape method. That technique can be applied
to Higgsstrahlung events with Z boson decays into muons, into electrons and,
with reservations, into quarks. The samples built from Higgsstrahlung events
with Z boson decays into taus and neutrinos are not used in previous analyses.
We present here a new method, the reference sample method. It extends the
recoil mass method to be usable with the tau and neutrino samples as well.
  The extension promises a model independent determination of the inclusive
Higgsstrahlung cross section with a 2.1-2.2% uncertainty from each of the two
ILC polarization scenarios at $\sqrt{s}$=250 GeV with an integrated luminosity
of 250 $\mathrm{fb^{-1}}$. This represents an improvement of 20-30% on the
accuracy from the application of the new approach without additional data
collection.
