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In the business world, good customer service often isn’t good enough anymore. Customers are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the merely adequate. For them, exceptional service is the rule. Anything less, and they’re happy to vote with their feet and their wallets. That makes exceptional service necessary, not just desirable. And that, in turn, mandates a strategy to help ensure that your business matches that standout service standard on a daily basis.

Here are seven ideas and tips to help your business establish and maintain an ongoing climate of service excellence.

1. Know what exceptional really means.

It’s an easy term to toss about, but knowing what exceptional service entails is essential to establishing the procedures and the mindset with which to achieve it. So, delineate what exceptional means — keeping appointments on time or making certain that telephone service reps always say “please” and “thank you”? By knowing precisely what is merely good enough — and what takes your business beyond that — you get a firm handle on what you need to do to hit that goal on a consistent basis.

2. Ask if you’re not sure.

Many companies may find it understandably difficult to genuinely pinpoint what exceptional service really entails. So, do some legwork. Conduct focus groups with customers to see what they really value. Ask your complaint department, if you have one, to identify topics that are frequent targets of dissatisfaction. Often, you may find exceptional translates to a holistic grouping of issues, not just one product or service. “Often, being extraordinary means offering someone a truly exceptional experience,” says Dr. Noelle Nelson, author of “The Power of Appreciation in Business.” “The quality of something may be good, but it’s the overall experience that will really define customer loyalty.”