Keller Center Research Report is a Trademark owned by Baylor University . October 2009 Copyright © Baylor® University . All rights reserved. Trademark/DMCA Page 1 information. Privacy statement . Baylor University Waco, Texas 76798 1-800-BAYLOR-U When a Customer is Grateful to Be Your Customer By Robert W. Palmatier “Relationship Marketing” (RM) refers to a long-term and mutually beneficial arrangement in which both the buyer and seller focus on value enhancement with the goal of providing a more satisfying exchange. RM encompasses all activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relationships (Morgan and Hunt 1994). When you think about RM, two concepts come to mind: trust and commitment. But, what other mechanisms make RM effective at improving seller performance? A key goal of selling is to build and sustain customer relationships (DeWulf, Odekerken-Schroder, and Iacobucci 2001). For real estate agents, the longevity of the relationship is paramount. Not only do you want your customers to buy/sell every house through you, their referrals are priceless. In this article, we discuss the role of customer gratitude in establishing effective buyer and seller relationships. Our research suggests it is important for a seller to go beyond providing the obvious benefit of a new home to creating more positive buyer perceptions of a seller‟s motive. Role of Gratitude in RM Gratitude, the emotional appreciation for benefits received, accompanied by a desire to reciprocate is an important concept for understanding RM effectiveness (Morales 2005). Examples of relationship marketing investments in real estate would include an agent providing extra effort for a buyer or seller in adapting policies, providing small favors, or considerations (e.g. meals, gifts, personalized notes). These relationship marketing investments generate customer feelings of gratitude, which lead to gratitude-based reciprocal behaviors, resulting in enhanced seller performance. After receiving a benefit, people feel a deep-rooted psychological pressure to reciprocate, such that the act of reciprocating can generate pleasure, whereas the failure to repay obligations can lead to guilt (Dahl, Honea, and Manchanda 2005). The extensive role of gratitude in how people perceive, feel about, and repay benefits gained in the seller/buyer exchange process makes gratitude a prime candidate for explaining how RM affects performance beyond the influence of trust and commitment. For residential real estate, consider that seller investment in RM generates feelings of gratitude, which have a strong influence on buyers‟ short-term purchase intentions. Gratitude is a fundamental social component of human interactions that provides an emotional foundation for reciprocal behaviors. You scratch my back, and I feel obligated to scratch yours. Researchers have identified two key aspects of gratitude: affective and behavioral. Feelings of gratitude generate a built-in psychological pressure to return the favor. Thus, we define the affective aspect of gratitude, or feelings of gratitude, as feelings of gratefulness, thankfulness, or appreciation for a benefit received. We define the behavioral aspect, or gratitude-based reciprocal behaviors, as actions to repay or reciprocate benefits received in response to feelings of gratefulness (Morales 2005). The RM cycle could “pay off” for the