691 - Why Going All-In on One Vertical Beat Staying a Generalist with Chris Widmayer
Why you should listen
- Chris Widmayer took Penrod from a generalist Salesforce shop to one of the top five healthcare partners at Salesforce, and lifted gross margins by about 15% (now sitting between 47% and 55%) by committing to a single vertical.
- Learn how he built productized packages and SaaS products on top of his services so the business earns at high margin without him in every delivery, now 20% of revenue.
- Take away his reframe on measuring AI: stop counting hours saved and start measuring whether your people can do the work of three or four, with concrete examples of where that actually shows up.
Taking every client who pays and telling yourself revenue is revenue? That call feels safe and it quietly caps your margins, your hiring, and the level you get to consult at. In this episode, I talk with Chris Widmyer from Penrod, who walked away from a huge slice of his addressable market to go all in on one healthcare vertical and became one of the top five healthcare partners at Salesforce. He is candid about the revenue dip that came first, and what changed once his whole team spoke the customer's language instead of only Salesforce. If you are stuck competing on certifications while clients treat you as a vendor, this is the shift that moves you to trusted advisor.
Key Highlights
- Not all revenue is equal: Why chasing growth across every vertical grew the top line but eroded margins and made the work harder for his consultants.
- The niche that lifted margins 15%: How committing to healthcare alone raised gross margins to between 47% and 55% and made hiring and bench management far easier.
- Products on top of services: Why a single vertical justified building productized accelerators and SaaS products, now 20% of revenue at much higher margin.
- The wrong way to measure AI: Chris's case against "time saved" as a metric and what he tracks instead.
- Sell the business problem, not the platform: How healthcare depth lets Penrod walk into deals talking credentialing and referral management, not Health Cloud features.
About Chris Widmayer
Chris Widmayer is the founder and CEO of Penrod, a healthcare consulting agency built around great patient experiences. A developer by trade with more than 30 years writing code, he turns complex technical work into strategies healthcare IT leaders can act on, helping enterprise health systems build the data infrastructure, compliance frameworks, and AI-ready foundations they need to grow. Penrod is now one of the top five healthcare partners in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Resources and Links
- Penrod
- Chris Widmayer on LinkedIn
- Moonox
- Claude
- Snowflake
- Need help with your WHO and WHAT decisions? Apply for a FREE Multiplier Call
- Book a Decision Session here
- Previous episode: 686 - 28 Moments Decide the Deal Before You Know It Exists
- Check out more episodes of the Paul Higgins Podcast
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel: @PaulHigginsMentoring
- Join our newsletter
- Suggested resources
