Addition by Subtraction in Sales: How Saying No Helped Us Grow
We didn’t grow our catering sales by doing more—we grew by doing less. Here’s how saying no to small custom orders helped us focus, streamline, and finally hit our revenue goals in 2025.
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Under Promise, Over Deliver
A few years ago, I learned a simple truth about customer service.
You can tell someone you’ll deliver lunch at 11:30 and show up at 11:45, and you’re suddenly the worst person in the world.
Same food, same delivery, but now you’ve broken trust.
Or you can tell that same customer you’ll deliver at noon and show up at 11:45, and you’re a hero.
They thank you, tell their team how great you are, and remember that you were early.
Same 11:45 delivery. Different promise. Different story.
That’s when it clicked for me. Trust isn’t just about doing what you said you’d do. It’s about how you set expectations in the first place.
Under promise. Over deliver.
That’s how you turn reliability into reputation.
“Know what’s enough. Build what matters.”
If this idea resonates, you might also like Addition by Subtraction in Sales , a reflection on focusing your energy where it actually counts.
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