Bank of America 1999 Annual Report Download - page 10

For some time we have been asking cus-
tomers how we can improve our company
to earn a greater share of their business.
Last year alone we surveyed and inter-
viewed 718,000 customers. Over the years,
one theme has been loud and clear:
Know me. Understand me. Recognize
the business I do with you no matter how
I choose to contact you. Act like one
company.
The customer desire that we better
understand them and act like one
company is in response to many factors.
For example, people consider the business
they do with us to be one relationship,
but it is not always easy for us to respond
that way. Our historical development,
regulations and other factors led us to
function more like a collection of
companies than an integrated business.
When a customer contacted one of
our businesses — our mortgage company,
for example — our representative would
know all about the mortgage relationship
but not about the customer’s accounts
with all other bank units. As a result,
customers sometimes thought we did not
fully appreciate their business, even when
it was substantial.
Our new growth strategy is designed
to eliminate this obstacle, give our
customers additional service options
they want and thus enable us to earn a
greater share of their financial business.
When our strategy for achieving new
growth first began taking shape, Hugh
McColl described it this way: “We will
make this bank work for customers in
ways it never has before.”
Ken Lewis, president and chief
operating officer, added: “We will not run
our subsidiaries as product companies but
as pieces of a relationship.”
This section describes how we are
executing the strategy for our consumer
customers. On the pages that follow you
can see how the strategy works for our
corporate and commercial clients and
our small business customers.
First, we are integrating our lines of
business. This means bringing them closer
together the way our customers want.
We believe this integration will help us
build stronger and more profitable rela-
tionships and increase shareholder value.
We have many initiatives under way
to improve our ability to profitably
expand relationships. These initiatives
make customers feel welcome and
appreciated and demonstrate that we
are working hard to really know and
understand them.
Amy Brinkley, Consumer Products
executive for Bank of America, notes that
the company’s individual business units,
including Mortgage and Card Services,
“are strong and valuable. Increasingly,
customers will be coming to us because
of the skill of these businesses and
because, as a company, we can do it all.
So integration is one way we can make
these businesses work better for our
clients and customers.
“Integration, however, does not mean
combining businesses,” she adds. “We
will always need to maintain clearly
defined centers of expertise. But we will
not allow the walls between them to get
8
In these busy times, millions of people
look for a bank that can meet all of their
financial needs with ease and conven-
ience. Nancy and Ron Barwig (previous
page) of Alpharetta, Georgia, rely on Bank
of America for a number of services
including our Money Manager Account, a
combination of banking and investment
services. Their sons are Cody, Nick and
Brandon. The Barwigs take advantage of
Banc of America Investment Services’
discount brokerage services for their
investing needs. One of our discount
brokerage telephone bankers is Miriam
Patel, investment specialist (right).
We’re th
a