Once upon a time a manager was put in charge of an automobile manufacturing plant.  “You’re responsible for producing 100 cars a day” his boss said, “do that and your position is safe.  Fail, and you will be replaced!”.

Things started out well.  The plant produced, on average, 100 cars / day.  But then things changed.  The plant averaged 97 cars a day . . . then 92 . . . then 87.  The trend was obvious.  So were the consequences.

One option to correct matters was to stand in the parking lot and shout, “C’mon guys . . . you did it before, you can do it again”.  A second option was to go up the production line until a ‘problem’ could be identified and correct it.  The manager was smart.  He took option #2.  Eventually finding that a certain part was in short supply and that reduced the plant’s output.  Once known, the basis for corrective action was able to be directed to the ‘real’ issue.

In your practice, a common lament may be ‘Not enough revenues’.  That’s about as helpful as producing ‘not enough cars’.  If you go ‘up’ your production process, I’ll bet you’ll find that you’re not putting enough people into your active pipeline.  And THAT . . . is where you should begin actions to correct your symptomatic problem of ‘not enough revenues’.

KEY POINT:
The symptom of ‘poor revenues’ is often best addressed by focusing on ‘improving your pipeline’