How does a customer experience your brand? Do they leave an interaction feeling enlightened and empowered? Or do they leave feeling disconnected and disenfranchised? Understanding consumers' personas and journeys is critical because at the end of the day, brands need to truly connect. Because if you don't, you're likely losing customers and employees for life. Any business with customers needs to focus on the journey experience and work to constantly improve it. But customer-centricity needs to be built into the culture of the organization from the start. If you're not always considering your customers' next step in the sales process (even after they've purchased) and retaining them, then you need a champion for your customer experiences. Your business leaders and employees should be asking, "How do I make sure that everything we do incorporates the customer and their thinking?" And, don't think that the customer journey ends after a purchase. A customer journey map analyzes all the interactions the customer has with a brand, including emotions, feelings and perceptions throughout every step of the sales process and beyond. Ultimately, you should connect your brand story to your customers' stories to elevate, empower, and enlighten them, and hopefully retain them for life. Designing customer journeys demonstrates that your business understands what your stakeholders are all about. Annette Franz is the queen of customer journey mapping. She is the CEO of CX Journey Inc, a boutique customer experience consulting firm. And on this week's episode, she will help you frame and design your experiences to provide better journeys for your customers and employees. Become a Master Storyteller Grab your free copy of The 5 Stages of Grief in Telling YOUR Business Story: http://bit.ly/StorytellingTools Like what you hear? Bring Park to your next event.