Editor Peter Cheverton is a guru of KAM, and this book somewhat modifies and tailors his basic KAM approach to fit the needs of the financial services industry. The tailoring is slight, mainly a matter of streamlining the style, although that is welcome. One brief but very useful section discusses the importance of dealing with and through intermediaries. In fact, many financial services vendors work through intermediaries, distributing their products or services through banks, insurance companies, mutual fund companies or others. Cheverton and his co-editors, Tim Hughes, Bryan Foss and Merlin Stone, usefully point out that it is important not to consider the intermediary as the customer. Instead, the vendor should look through the intermediary to the final user and assist the intermediary in developing an offering that suits the needs and preferences of that end user. People who have read Cheverton's "Key Account Management" will learn little new here, but we believe that those who have not - particularly those in the financial services sector - will benefit from this shorter, easier book.
