“Benjamin Franklin advised, ‘The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.’
I was taking with a prospect last week who was very price sensitive and felt that he could get the service we were offering at a cheaper price. Now bearing in mind we were talking only a couple of hundred pounds cheaper (10% of the fee). Now I wasn’t prepared to budge as I know we provide good service and value and we certainly are not expensive when you compare us to other professional qualified Chartered Accountants🤔
It reminded me of KFC🐔
In 2018, KFC decided to shake things up in the UK. They tendered & switched from their long-standing logistics partner to a new, cheaper one. What could go wrong with a bargain, right? Well, turns out… everything😟
Almost immediately, chaos ensued. The new logistics partner, while less expensive, wasn’t quite ready for the task of delivering fresh chicken to over 900 locations across the UK. As lorries failed to show up, KFC restaurants began running out of their main ingredient: chicken.
A fried chicken joint without chicken🍗
You can imagine the outcry. Social media exploded, with customers joking that KFC now stood for “Kentucky Fried Chaos.” Some locations had to put up signs reading, “Sorry, no chicken today,”
The fiasco resulted in nearly two-thirds of KFC locations temporarily shutting their doors. Beyond the reputational damage there of course were financial losses—costing KFC millions of pounds. The company scrambled to fix the situation, eventually reverting to its original reliable logistics provider.
Despite the disaster, KFC managed to salvage their brand by embracing the humor of the situation. Their apology campaign, featuring an empty chicken bucket rearranged to spell “FCK,” won praise for its cleverness and accountability.🙂
Lesson learned: Cheaper in most cases isn’t better, especially when it comes to core operations. KFC proved that while you can save a few pounds upfront, cutting corners can end up costing you a whole lot of chicken (and cash) in the end.💰
