Chris Widmayer
CEO, Penrod Software LLC
Milwaukee
Employees: 60
When Chris Widmayer and his co-founder Joseph Taylor started their company back in 2012, they knew no matter what they did, it would center on customer service.
Milwaukee-based Penrod is a cloud consulting agency and a premier Salesforce partner. The company develops and implements cloud solutions for clients and helps them engage with their customers through a variety of different CRM solutions on the Salesforce.com platform.
“When Chris and I started Penrod, we wanted how we value our people and our customers, even our most difficult ones, to be our main competitive advantage,” Taylor said.
Penrod has implemented several strategic employee engagement initiatives, including employee mentorship programs, process development and career growth opportunities, that contribute to the best-in-class work environment for its employees.
In 2017, Penrod implemented a team-based, capacity-measured process that is now used for every professional service project the company takes on.
The process starts with pre-sales engagement and measures the estimated capacity of the project. This allows Penrod to successfully match the project to an available team.
The system creates a professional service environment where there is reduced burnout, higher quality deliverables and a consistent client experience throughout the entire engagement process.
The new process allows the company to predict revenue per team and drive gross margins higher.
Widmayer, Taylor and their 11-member executive team have driven Penrod to become the second-fastest-growing Salesforce implementation partner in the marketplace.