If your revenues aren't heading in the right direction, can you pinpoint why? Your market may have hit a bad patch but often that is not the only reason.

Revenue problems usually boil down to the same root cause – lack of effective process or lack of understanding about how your organisation's products or services will help your customers. Sometimes it's both. How do you do something about it, and quickly?

Our top tips for improving revenue are:

• Ensure that you have an effective and efficient lead generation engine

• Be ruthless in qualifying leads. Focus on the ones you really can win

• Make sure that everyone in sales (not just the salesforce) can articulate how your organisation's services will contribute to their customers' business objectives

• Ensure you support your prospect relevantly in each stage of their buying cycle

• Know what you do well – and not so well – during the sales process. When was the last time you asked a client about their experience of your sales effort?

• One last thing: a systematic, methodical approach – which confidently channels the energy of your organisation – always wins over the 'let's just do it' route.

For more information on a proven approach to lead generation for consultative sales, see this page.