About Karl Sakas

Hi, I’m Karl Sakas* in Raleigh, North Carolina. I’m passionate about marketing, trains, business, history, and technology. I grew up in a log cabin 15 miles from the White House and now enjoy living in the N.C. Research Triangle. I like learning new things, going on field trips, and connecting with new people. I’ve been quoted in Consumer Reports but failed the in-person Jeopardy! test.

Marketing and Trains

My marketing specialty is quickly finding new ways to help companies make more money. Need results yesterday? Let’s talk.

A few times a year, I volunteer as a crew member on the Dover Harbor, a 1930s Pullman railroad car. It’s like something out of an old movie — beds flip down from the ceiling, there’s a small kitchen with a working icebox, and you can wave at people along the way from the rear vestibule. I’ve picked up some great marketing lessons while mixing martinis at 79 miles an hour.

Why is this blog called “Frontline Results”?

We are all at the front lines of marketing. Business is ultimately about one-on-one interactions, between customers and an employee or between customers and your electronic proxy. Strategy is important, but you’ve got to be able to execute from the frontline.

As a customer, think about your interactions with executives, customer service reps, and account managers. Your impression of the company depends on interactions with that person on the front lines:

• An interactive advertising campaign fails when it sends customers to a bad landing page.
• A corporate branding makeover stumbles when the CEO admits he faked his educational credentials.
• Treating an unexpectedly influential person rudely at a networking event might lead to a critical blog post that spreads virally among thousands of followers.
• Failing to monitor the situation and engage customers during a PR crisis wastes the company’s social media equity.

No matter the business strategy, the results ultimately depend on good execution by the people at the frontline.

Themes at Frontline Results

All opinions are my own (or are those of the respective commenter or interviewee). I’ve been blogging intermittently since 2000 and consistently since 2010. You’ll notice a few themes in my posts here:

• It’s all about incentives. People tend to do what they have the incentive to do–for better (volunteering) or for worse (pushing subprime mortgages to unsuitable borrowers to collect a big commission).
• History shows us that change is inevitable. We should embrace the opportunities!
• Take care of the customers. <– Marketing, in five words.
• I can find a way to connect trains to anything.

Thanks for visiting! I’d love to hear from you.

* I pronounce it “say-kiss.” But you know, it’s an Americanized name, so I suppose after Szakacs (soh-kahsh) in the 1920s, you can really pronounce it however you like. A former boss likes to pronounce it “sah-kahss.”