ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on building relationships with customers. It discusses the recognition and management of two-way marketing relationships. The chapter explores the underlying concept of relationship marketing, some dimensions of the concept of customer loyalty and the role of the service experience in building relationships. Relationship marketing differs from transaction marketing, in that; the focus is on relationships rather than individual transactions. Singh warns that most information services still have a transactional approach to service delivery and do not pay sufficient attention to the services and interactions that build relationships with customers. Czepiel explores the link between relationship-building and service encounters. The concept of customer lifetime value (CLV) represents the value of customers to an organization over the lifetime of the organizations relationship with a customer. Building customer relationships develops a 'customer portfolio' alongside the organization's product portfolio, and might be viewed as the ultimate realization of marketing orientation.
