Chris Adamkowski walked into a sales organization that had been told for years it was doing great. Then he did the math. The company was churning more than it was selling — and when he said that out loud in a room full of sellers, nobody had known.

Ten years at Google, from an individual contributor in the ads business to running teams, to General Manager of Google Workspace in Canada, to Cloud. His first CRO seat at a fintech. Then private equity recruited him to run the revenue turnaround at Beanfield, an independent fiber network and data centre operator with some of the densest infrastructure in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Two and a half years later the business went from shrinking to growing, churn shows up in everyone's comp plan, and the top of the customer list looks nothing like it did the day he arrived.

In this conversation with LeanScale co-founder Anthony Enrico, Chris lays out the three pillars of a turnaround in the order they have to happen — culture, structure, operations — and hands over the frameworks he carries with him: 2X2Y, the slowest camper, and stop at yes. If you are sitting in a CRO seat, walking into one, or supporting the person who is, this is the operating manual.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Why a sales team can be churning more than it sells and genuinely not know it

CHAPTERS

00:00 — Cold open and intro

02:37 — The room where he said they were churning more than selling

04:56 — Why nobody knew: the CRO versus VP of Sales remit gap

13:19 — The three big rocks of a turnaround

17:00 — 2X2Y: doubling the business in two years

21:00 — Marshall Self and the slowest camper

27:53 — Stop at yes: there is no such thing as yes plus

35:41 — What would be the reason it doesn't close? Okay, what else?

52:02 — Culture: traditions and the quarterly awards

54:24 — Structure: Defend and Grow, and being the first and last call

56:48 — Operations: putting churn in the comp plan

1:00:53 — The future is person to person

1:06:57 — AI as an enhancement, not a replacement

1:08:33 — Wrap

ABOUT THE GUEST

Chris Adamkowski is Chief Revenue Officer at Beanfield, an independent fiber network and data centre operator with some of the densest infrastructure in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, backed by Digital Colony. He spent a decade at Google — starting as an individual contributor seller in the ads business, moving into leadership across multiple teams, then serving as General Manager of Google Workspace in Canada before moving over to Cloud. He left to take his first CRO seat at DealMaker, a fintech capital markets challenger, before private equity recruited him to lead the revenue turnaround at Beanfield. He holds an MBA from Queen's University, serves on advisory boards including the NXXT Women's Pro Golf Tour, and is an active angel investor.

ABOUT THE LEANSCALE PODCAST

The LeanScale Podcast is the show for GTM operators building the next generation of revenue infrastructure. Hosted by Anthony Enrico, co-founder of LeanScale, we go deep with the operators, founders and executives shaping how modern go-to-market teams are designed, scaled and transformed.

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KEYWORDS / TAGS

RevOps, Revenue Operations, GTM, CRO, Chief Revenue Officer, VP of Sales, Revenue Turnaround, Churn, Net Revenue Retention, Compensation Plan, Sales Comp Plan, Sales Operations, Sales Enablement, Pipeline Forecasting, Sales Leadership, Sales Culture, Customer Retention, Mid-Market, Private Equity, Board Reporting, Google, Beanfield, Telecom, Fiber Network, Enterprise Sales, AI in Sales, GTM Strategy, LeanScale, Anthony Enrico, Chris Adamkowski

HASHTAGS

#RevOps #GTM #CRO #RevenueOperations #SalesLeadership #Turnaround #Churn #CustomerRetention #SalesCompensation #EnterpriseSales #PrivateEquity #MidMarket #Beanfield #LeanScale #LeanScalePodcast

Churning More Than You Sell | Chris Adamkowski on the Art of the Turnaround

The LeanScale Podcast with Anthony Enrico

Churning More Than You Sell | Chris Adamkowski on the Art of the Turnaround