Jonny May says Leicester's win against Bristol was a moment that can help revive the former Premiership giants.
Two tries by the England winger helped the 10-time English champions to just their second league win of the season.
"The lessons we've learned came through and we turned it around," May said.
"I hope this is the point we get serious and start getting better every week because this is a club that has all the ingredients to be one of the best teams in Europe."
Two-time European champions Leicester are still second from bottom in the league and above only Saracens, who had a 35-point deduction imposed on them.
But May, whose second try late on helped seal the win against Bristol, said the result "was special".
He told BBC Radio Leicester: "It is as good a feeling I've had at Leicester Tigers because of how desperate we were for it.
"It's never a good thing to be desperate on the pitch, but you can't say you weren't because I was desperate."
May is one of six England internationals who missed the start of the season for Leicester because of World Cup duties and admits they were "embarrassed" on their league return when beaten 36-13 by derby rivals Northampton in November.
"That was the first proper game to see where we were at and it was a shock, it was a crash back to earth," he said.
"What we have done is be hard on ourselves. That takes character.
"We've lost a fair few games over the past couple of years and we have only ourselves to blame, whether defensively or because of indiscipline.
"Hopefully now we have a bit of belief and realisation that we can be a great team, and if we keep working on what we have been working on we can steady the ship and make progress.
"Things are starting to look better, but you can't speak too soon because the hard work needs to continue."