Janet Caylor wants to see Merrill Lynch &
Co. Inc. out in the community. She wants to
see the company’s name, its people and its
services in front of thousands and thousands of potential customers in the
Houston area each day.
That’s a big reason why Caylor, the
regional managing director for Merrill
Lynch in Houston, has helped spur a number of initiatives aimed at connecting her
wing of the company to the community it
serves.
Since arriving in Houston about three
years ago, Caylor — a 30-year employee of
Merrill Lynch, which was recently acquired
by Bank of America — has created a company culture that values volunteerism,
acknowledges racial and ethnic diversity,
and encourages feedback from all groups
within the community.
In part, it’s a branding strategy. But
under Caylor, the stated goal of raising
the profile of the Merrill Lynch name in
the Houston community isn’t solely to
drum up business. It’s to become a key
player in improving the community and
creating relationships that will benefit
both Merrill Lynch and the surrounding
community. Through those relationships, Caylor and her leadership team
have built the presence of Merrill Lynch
in the community and developed loyal
customers.
“First and foremost, I felt it would be a
branding strategy to give back to the
community,” she says. “Rather than
looking at it from the standpoint of how
do we gain business and market share, it
was really from the standpoint of how
do we add value and quality to this community.”
Philanthropy and community causes
are noble endeavors for any business in
any situation. However, Caylor says you
are missing out on opportunity if you
don’t take the relationship seeds planted
by community involvement and use
them to build long-term relationships
that can ultimately help strengthen both
your business and the area your business calls home.
This is how Caylor has strengthened
Merrill Lynch by making it a positive
force in the Houston area, where the
company earned approximately $446
million in revenue in 2007.
