Andrew Penny

Leadership & Management

1 - The best kept secret for increasing revenue

Andrew Penny, November 12 2019

If you want to increase your revenue, increase your prices. Stunninglyobvious but so few do it. We often don’t raise our prices because we believe we are already at the limit of our pricing ... ... and perhaps it was a few years ago when your service level was lower, when your product quality wasn’t as good, when your competition was different, or...

Read More
Leadership & Management

Lesson from a Bee Hive

The Kingsford Team, June 13 2019

Click image to play The way bees operate in their hive can provide an useful lesson that we should think about in our businesses. And while we are talking about bees: World Bee Day is celebrated on 20 May each year (since 2017) in honour of Anton Jansa who was born on that date in 1734 and who is recognized as a pioneering beekeeper.  World Bee Day...

Read More
Market Strategy

The 5 Golden Rules of Pricing

Andrew Penny, May 28 2019

An area that people get wrong all the time is pricing. Some people price high based on the profits they hope to achieve. Some base it on some sort of average industry “cost plus” rule.  Some are afraid to charge too much. Still others simply add a few percent to last year’s price. So before you set your next price or quote your next deal here are A...

Read More
Leadership & Management

Why strategic advice from professionals can be sub-optimal for business owners?

Andrew Penny, May 14 2019

At a recent event organized by Peter Jaskiewicz at University of Ottawa and the Ontario CPA, the above participants each weighed in on a family business case study to provide succession advice based on their expertise. And while each piece of advice was excellent, I couldn’t help thinking about the old adage of  ‘when you have a hammer – everythin...

Read More
Market Strategy

The New Globalisation

Andrew Penny, April 23 2019

Globalization doesn’t mean (necessarily) that you have to sell globally but it does mean you are now competing with companies from all over the world. So, how are you going to stand up against competition that’s coming in from Germany or Turkey or China or Chile or anywhere else in the world? Many of these companies are competing globally with a si...

Read More
Leadership & Management

The Great Unemployment Opportunity of 2019

Andrew Penny, March 26 2019

For this instalment of the accelerator we are going video.  Let us know what you think. Bottom Line:  If you find ways to help your clients reduce their labour needs, you can charge more, differentiate yourselves and create deeper customer relationships.

Read More
Market Strategy

I Hate Waiting for People When I Ski

Andrew Penny, February 26 2019

I hate waiting for people when I ski. Well maybe hate is a strong word, but waiting does break my flow. My friend Andrew (yeah same name as me) is a fabulous skier - a Level 3 Certified Ski Instructor no less. And for those of you who don’t know about skiing, that’s pretty close to godliness. (Level 4s are the real gods – at least they think so...)...

Read More
Market Strategy

How to Use a Bar (Chart) to Grow Revenue

Andrew Penny, January 29 2019

I ask all our clients for a report on sales by customer for the last 2 or sometimes 3 years; but even a single year (as the example below shows) provides great insights.  And, with multiple years you also get trends. Next, I do something that is incredibly simple but provides huge insights. I load the data into a spread-sheet, sort by revenue (lar...

Read More
Market Strategy

Legacy Constraints

Andrew Penny, December 18 2018

Legacy Constraints are the Achilles' Heel of enterprise companies; they are your opportunity. One of our clients is a rapidly growing software as a service (SAAS) company. We are helping them on their way to becoming a global company - which of course takes money. Our initial evaluation showed there were a number of billion-dollar companies that ap...

Read More
Market Strategy

Don't Think Small, Think Narrow

Andrew Penny, November 20 2018

During a kick off meeting with a new client we were discussing how best to accelerate beyond his local trading area. We talked about geography, product lines and market segments. When I suggested he focus on a very specific offering for a unique demographic his comment was – “Geez – that market is way too small”.  He was confusing small for narrow;...

Read More
Previous