“When we try to get customers to do something, if we ourselves don’t know what the path to success looks like and how to measure that path to success, how do we get them to do what we want them to do?” says Kia Puhm, CEO of DesiredPath. In this episode, Kia shares her insights on customer journey mapping, making the case that businesses need to understand their customer’s true needs—not just follow their own process maps.

Kia introduces the idea of an intelligent framework, a flexible system that adapts as customer behaviors evolve. What if your business could actually predict what customers need before they even ask? This framework makes that possible by guiding teams to better align their efforts with real customer journeys. And how do playbooks fit in? Kia explains that they’re the practical guides that ensure each department understands its role in driving customer success. That way, it’ll keep everyone on the same page.

The impact is huge—companies that focus on mapping the customer’s desired path and using agile playbooks see higher customer retention, faster adoption rates, and fewer escalations. By asking the right questions and designing journeys that truly reflect the customer’s perspective, businesses can unlock real results.

Quotes

• “It’s this marriage of us understanding the customer from their vantage point, walking in their shoes in that desired path, and then understanding how to, in the most effective and efficient manner, allow them to leverage things really successfully, our products and services, to achieve their desired path. It’s about tapping into that wisdom that customers know and of what they need and then guiding it and bringing in your products and services in alignment to that.” (04:04 | Kia Puhm)
• “My philosophy is on this notion of the intelligent framework, this customer-centric model that needs to keep evolving. We need to keep observing what the customer’s patterns of their success are and keep being organizationally agile. Take those insights, put those into the operational model, and keep evolving how we are making customers successful.” (10:02 | Kia Puhm)
• “I don’t think that if you have created a customer-centric model and you understand what your journey is, and the whole organization is aligned to it, we need to be talking about who owns the journey. Instead, we will be discussing what each function and each role needs to do in order to make the customer successful.” (15:49 | Kia Puhm)
• “When we try to get customers to do something, if we ourselves don’t know what the path to success looks like and how to measure that path to success, how do we get them to do what we want them to do?” (31:50 | Kia Puhm)

Links

Connect with Kia Puhm:

Website: https://www.thedesiredpath.com/

Connect with Alex Raymond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/

Website: https://amplifyam.com/

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