Relationship marketing in business

Business or entrepreneurship depends on marketing activities to ensure their business is sustained and lasting. Marketing activities such as buying and selling required the buyer and seller to have a relationship. Relationships between buyers and sellers have existed since humans began trading goods and services (Wilson, 1995). Parvatiyar and Sheth (2000) observe that relationship marketing roots were in the preindustrial age. Over the years, it has developed to be one of the most discussed marketing issues in today‟s competitive business world (Egan & Harker, 2005). Berry (1983) is the first author who proposed relationship marketing in the professional context. He defines it as attracting, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships in multi-service organizations. Copulsky and Wolf (1990) define relationship marketing as a construct that combines elements of general advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing in order to create more effective and efficient ways of reaching customers.