Let’s say, hypothetically, that there was an online system where a fair amount of data needed to be entered.  This system, hypothetically speaking, was cumbersome, slow, and just took all the fun out of data entry (and you know you love data entry).  In our mythical world, it would be quite financially rewarding if you could automate the entry of data into said system.

So, I decided to write an Adobe Air application in Flex 3 to tackle this data entry automation.  It has a built-in web browser that made it easy to create a quick app that would visit the site, login, go to the data entry page and fill out the form.  Unfortunately, this form has one file upload entry that uses a little javascript/ajax combined with an old fashion form upload.

In an ideal world, I would just be able to set the value of the <input type=”file”> and submit the form.  However, even though this is a desktop app, the browser’s security setup prohibits this from happening.  In a web-based scenario, the benefits of such a limitation are easy to see.  In my case, it was just frustrating.  I can have my program “click” the browse button on the file upload, but could not find a way to manipulate the dialog that pops ups to select a file.  I’ve tried about a million different methods to get this to work, but after two days of chasing this unicorn I decided to back off, regroup, and take another approach.

Examining the upload page, I noticed that the file upload was in it’s own form (not in the form of the rest of the data entry).  The data entry page contained an iframe, which pointed to another page that contained the file upload information.  This way, the file upload happened as soon as you chose a file and it displayed on the data entry page.  I modified my program to make this iframe point to a php file on my server.  This php file grabbed an image from the server, posted it to the data entry site posing as the form on the original page.  I even passed in cookies and session information so it looked as legit as possible. However, the image is not uploading.  After reviewing the page for several hours, I have come to the conclusion that there is more javascript/ajax involved in this upload than I had previously hoped and expected.  There MUST be something firing on that form once an image is selected that my script is not doing.

I’ll try to spend more time tonight reviewing the data entry’s javascript to see if I can find the culprit.  Unfortunately, it has thousands of lines of ill-formatted javascript with all the spaces and lines removed.  It makes for a fun night of code review!

I’ve started a few business in my time, and I’m always trying to absorb knowledge from others that have also.  There is one undeniable truth that all successful business owners preach:  word of mouth is the best advertising available.  Think about it: if someone you trust that has nothing to gain from the recommendation goes out of their way to tell you that a product or service is worthwhile then you are likely to give that product or service a try.  To get good word of mouth advertising, your business needs great customer service.  Take care of your customers and everything else will take care of itself.

I’ve heard a lot of tweets lately about customer service.  A few good ones are below:

Good service leads to multiple sales. If you take care of your customers, they’ll open doors you could never open by yourself.  – @ShanePike

“One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.” ~Jim Rohn – @ZigZiglarQuotes

These quotes are as true as they come.  However, depending on what you do, that $10,000 worth of advertising estimate may be quite a bit low.

I’ve had a few good customer service experiences in the last week.  Both instances really opened me up to the particular business I was dealing with.  Coincidentally, they were both local restaurants.  Last week, I went to Five Guys Burgers and orders my cheeseburger.  Well, it came out with onions instead of mushrooms.  Did I order onions accidentally?  Who knows, but I wanted mushrooms.  I took the burger up to the front and an employee saw me coming.  She came out from behind the counter and met me half way.  I was ready to give the whole story and go into the typical hoopla it takes at most restaurants.  However, she stopped me, went ahead and had them start me another burger, wrapped mine back up and handed it to me and told me to take it home to someone who might want it.  I was impressed!  Not only did she take prompt care of my “issue”, but she gave me the old burger as well because they could do nothing but throw it away.

This morning, I stopped by Wendys to try their breakfast as I had never had it.  I ordered a homestyle chicken biscuit and proceeded to the window.  The lady at the window informed me that it would be about 3 minutes for the chicken to fry and asked if I would like a drink while I wait (I had not ordered a drink).  I replied “yes” and got a free coke out of the wait.  Not a big deal, cost the company next to nothing, but small things like that help the customer to understand that you care about their experience and that they are important to you.