Vera Stewart Built a Business Empire by Never Taking No for an Answer | The Sales Gravy Podcast

Nooks is the first agent workspace for sales. A unified platform where AI agents and human sales reps work together in real time. Instead of getting buried in manual tasks, you work alongside AI that prospects, prioritizes, and drafts outreach for you. When it comes to outbound, stop managing sequences and start selling with Nooks. Visit nooks. ai today. That's ns. ai. Welcome back to another episode of the Sales Gravy podcast. On this episode, I'm with Vera Stewart, who is a celebrity. She is an insane cook. She's a southern lady who loves the Georgia Bulldogs. And we're going to be talking about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and grow a business, and something that most salespeople are totally interested in, how it what it's like to just not take no as an answer, and how that helps you in your career. I would say that the difference often between someone who is able to go to the next level in their business and those who don't are that there's something inside of you that recognizes that there's an opportunity in that moment. Don't mess it up. Like take advantage of it. If you got to go a little bit harder, further. If the governor says, "Hey, can you show up and do the lunch? " You don't go, "Look, I'm really busy today. " You just you go because you recognize there's something there. And when I look back at like the early part of building sales gravy in this business, there were so many moments like that where if id gone the different direction, we wouldn't have had that opportunity. And I'm curious from your standpoint, do you see it that way? Like cuz when I read your history, I'm like this happened and she took advantage of it versus letting it just slip by. Well, and you know, I think sometimes people relate nervousness and, you know, being scared and not feeling confident that, you know, if you take that leap of faith and you get comfortable with that, you know, knot in your stomach or whatever it may be, you find out that you can accomplish that. But if you don't take that leap of faith, you don't know. I mean, you know, honestly, fast forward a little bit and I get this call from what was posed as the cooking channel that I knew was new coming behind the food network and they said, "Would you consider yourself an expert on carrot cake? " Well, she could have asked me on elephant cake and I would have said yes because I figured by the time I need to be an expert, I'll be an expert, you know? So, I wasn't about to say no. And as it turned out, it was a hoax and it was throwdown with Bobby Fle. And you know, just in that moment, seeing him standing there and knowing that I was getting ready to be in a competition, the first thought in my head was, I'm going to beat him. I I'm going to win. you know, and that's why, you know, I think a lot of times it's planting the original seed — of success rather than I can't do this or I won't do this or I'm scared to do this. — It's just saying yes. — And I feel the same way there so many times in my career where I've had a client come to us and said, "Can you do this? " And we go, "Yes. " Because we figure by the time we get there, we'll be able to do it. That's great. Um, it's uh I think that it's uh the way I say it is that messy success is better than perfect mediocrity. So, it's the — it's that confidence to say I can do anything. I can figure this out. Uh I'm not going to get out over my skis. This is in the realm of things that I do. Say yes. And I think so many people say no because of that same reason. They're insecure. They're um they're scared. I go back to um I figured out a way to get into Fort Knox. I had to jump out of an airplane to get there, but I we were building out the military part of our business. We I wrote a book called Military Recruiting. And then I asked, "Is there any way I could go see the recruiting school? " And then we got into the recruiting school and I said, "Is there any way I could go look around? " And as we were looking around, I saw an office and it had a general in it. And I just walked in and said, "Hello. " But the person that was escorting me was like, "No. " — Oh my gosh. — You know, but it but I walked in and said hello and then had a conversation and it turned into something. But if I'd have been afraid they might, you know, they might reject me or I might not be able to get in. I wasn't doing anything bad or ugly. I was had a smile on my face. I was just moving forward. I think it's that and I think a lot of sales professionals miss opportunities inside of their accounts to ask for more to get a referral or to see an opportunity to expand because they're afraid. — Gosh, you you're speaking my language so much right now because you know we're developing some new clients this year for the masters and you know in that process of working with my team well they didn't you know they didn't mention that they wanted anything like

that. I was going, — "What do you mean they didn't mention it? We're supposed to mention it. — They didn't know that they didn't want that, you know, and it's like, well, I don't think they're going to want to do that. " You know, these sorts of things. And um you know, we have to rent um a commissary kitchen that week to provide enough space for everything, all the food, all the prep, everything that we have to do for that week. And um this time we're getting a big refrigerated truck to sit in the yard because we I mean we're just out of room. And um so yesterday, you know, somebody said, "Well, you know, the truck can't be delivered until Friday. " And I said, "Well, why is that? " "Well, we don't actually lease the property until Friday. " And I said, "Well, have we asked them if we could perhaps put that truck in the parking lot on Wednesday? " — And I said, "All they can do is say no. " That's right. You know, but and so guess what they said? Sure. — All they can do is say no. And let me tell you something. No is not a good word for me. I do not like that word. — All right. We're going to come back to that because that's part of the story that I want to talk. That's one of the reasons I want you to hear. So Bobby Fle. So you get face to face nose tonose with Bobby Fle. So just real quickly, what was the experience like? — Oh my god. Well, first of all, he's really cute. And second of all, I mean like I had to take in that moment that I am on this show that is off the chart rated instead of some new show called Top That Cake for the Cooking Channel. So I had to process that and then I thought, you know, um I can immediately get business from this because I was a mail order company. I didn't have to wait for someone to come to my cafe in Augusta, Georgia. they could immediately get online and order that carrot cake. And so just the I'm going to win. And it was I think the personality part it like you walking in and saying hello to that general, he probably loved that cuz anybody else would have been too scared to do it because that was against the rules or whatever. And so I just played in and I, you know, I messed with him a little bit, you know, when he said, "I'm putting ginger in the batter. " Well, I knew enough about ginger to know you're not going to taste anything else. As soon as he did that, I thought, I got this. I mean, I'm going to win. I'm going to beat him to death, you know. And so, I think I I could see the vision on what it would mean to win. It takes me back to the third grade. If it was Red Rover at recess and I was the littlest kid in the class, I was going to break through. find the weakest link in that group of kids in front of me and I was going to bust through that line. It It's just part of my personality. — So, you win for the sake of winning. — Yes. Okay. And I want to make a point here because there's something that we talk about all the time at Sales Gravy in our training. We talk about relaxed assertive confidence. So, people have a tendency to lean into people who are relaxed. If you're calm, you're cool, you're relaxed. And you totally exude that. like you're a relaxed, confident human being. People love confident people. Like you talked about the general and I've never met anybody who didn't love confidence and respect confidence and lean into confidence and assertiveness. Assertiveness is you've already decided I'm going to win. You believe that when you ask for something, people are going to say yes to you. So many people they ask because in a way that causes them to basically say to the person, I know you're going to say no to me. You know, so you wouldn't be okay, would you? If we were to put the truck on the lot maybe on Friday, would you like no, you go, "Hey, I got a truck coming this refrigerator truck. Can we go ahead and put it there on Wednesday? " Yes. — So you ask that way statement, right? And but it's assertiveness and it's different than arrogance like if you like just hanging around with you and watching you that you're the same person on TV as you are sitting right in front of me and you just have this genuine authentic like way about you, but you're assertive. like you say I want this and with a smile on your face and I think that's the difference between people who see assertiveness as arrogance like they're in their mind I'm being arrogant arrogance different nobody likes arrogance but people love assertiveness and it's amazing I tell sales people all the time like you could say purple cow how about Thursday at two and people will go yes — because they say yes to your confidence not to the message — well and I you know I work with children so much I have a part of my brand as a cooking camp that we do in the summer, you know, and I speak to these things with, you know, eight years old, six years old, you know, don't say can't, you know, just try it, you know, to, you know, and so building that understanding of confidence and you can get away with so much if you act like you know what you're doing. I mean, honestly, I mean, I it it's proven to be successful

for me more times than not, for sure. — No doubt. And if you don't believe it, go watch Tik Tok, right? There's a lot of people acting like they know what they're doing and they have millions of people watching them do stuff that they don't really know how to do, but they exude confidence in there. So, okay. So, Bobby Fle, you're on the show and it changes everything. — Oh, it does. And you know, the first thought that came through my mind was that he was in Augusta because somebody was going to take him to play golf. and I just happened to be the you know, no pun intended, the carrot, you know, the carrot and the carrot cake that made it work. Um, but that wasn't why I was here at all. And so, honestly, that changed everything. I mean that took me from you know national reach to my brand because people I mean our website crashed you know it just we couldn't even accept the number of orders and then it showed in reshows for like six years and it we'd start getting all these carrot cake orders and I'd say well Bobby Fle ran again last night you know and so the local television station said we're going to give you your own show we'll let you record six shows and then we'll wrote them in reruns. Well, I didn't say anything, but I knew good well I was going to film more than six shows. So, I went ahead and planned 24 and you know, well, if you work really hard, Vera, you know, maybe in five years you'll get syndicated. And I thought, where where's the rule book that says I can't get syndicated until the end of five years? And so we approached WSAV and Savannah, you know, looking at our data of where people are commenting, you know, liking us on Facebook and all of that. And Savannah was that area of the state. And um they just happened to have a female GM which might have played a part in the fact that she thought this would be, you know, good programming on Sunday morning on WSAV and that was my our first syndicated market. — Okay, so let me back up for a second. So get off Bobby Fle, you get a shot. The local TV show says, "Ver, we're going to film six episodes. " You said, "Yeah, we're going to do that. I'm going to play your game, but I'm doing more. This is I want to do this. " Like and there had to been something about being on with Bobby that caused you to say, "This is cool. I want to do this. " Well, and and that, you know, honestly, again, going back to my degree in home economics, one of the classes you had to take was food demonstration. And, you know, I was never nervous doing it. You know, whether it was cutting up a chicken or, you know, grating cheese or whatever the assignment was that you had to get in front of a camera to do it. You know, I wasn't nervous about it. Um, we film without I have no Q cards, you know. I'm just kind of in the moment. They're saying wrap it up and I'm saying we're gonna finish this during the break. Um, you know, I I kind of just played into it. And it's interesting to me that being from Thompson that you didn't you were not aware of like my mail order days or my cafe on Washington Road and that you learned about me from the show. And that is so interesting to me because you met somebody that's not exactly who most of the people in our area knew originally and I love that part. — That's true. Um Okay. It's true. That's how I met you and but I fell in love with you when I heard your story. So you get this shot and you say I'm not going to wait five years. And I love that. Right. So, you're saying, and this is what Ray Makers do, by the way, and just a real quick side story, at the beginning of the pandemic back in 2020, I'm sitting in East Atlanta. I walk out of an audiobook studio. I just finished doing the audio book for my book, Inked, and my phone starts ringing off the hook. And it's executives, CEOs, people that I advise going, Jeb, what do we do now? Should we keep selling? Do we pull back? Like, what should we do? — And I'm saying, no, you keep selling. You keep calling. You keep talking to people, they need you. Maybe you change your message just a little bit, but keep selling. The same group of people were calling me midsummer saying, "Jeb, we've got a conundrum. We don't understand this. " We have some of our salespeople who were hitting all-time records. They're selling more than they've ever sold ever before in their lives. They're crushing company records. And we've got another group of salespeople who are barely making it. We don't even know if they're going to be able to uh to survive. What is going on? And as you started asking questions, one group were like you. They're rain makers. They looked at the world and said, "You know what? This is the world I live in. " But that's not going to stop me. I'm going to figure out a way. It turns out that I can sell more in a virtual environment because I can put more people in my funnel because I'm not driving around in a car, — right? — And you another group of people, I call

them rainarrels, that are sitting around waiting for something to change, happen. And in that moment, you could have been a rain barrel and said, "Okay, I got these six shows. This is really cool. I'm going have good fun with this. and uh maybe something good will happen. I'll wait for 5 years. Or you could choose to be a rain maker, which is what you did. And you said, you know, I'm this. I can do this. Like I can make this happen. I've just got to go find the next station. — What? Like what was that moment when you I don't know if you got in your car, if you got on the phone, but you decide to go to Savannah or get with, you know, WSAV and say you need to have me on, you know, on the show after people told you couldn't do that. like what was that like and how did you how did that manifest itself into a sales call essentially? — Well, and you know for the audience, you know, being in front of you and feeling this chemistry and you know, there's nothing like it and for me to be able at the time, this sort of setting, you know, was not an element back in 2011. So, I had to get in front of her. I had her to I wanted her to see that I was very serious about it, that I could bring an audience, that they could sell eight commercials during my show for top dollar, and that they could make money putting this show on as a barter. — Okay. So, let's stop for a second because this is important for all the listeners. Very important. — You went in thinking about her. Mhm. — So, you went in and said, "You can sell eight commercials and you can make money. " And that was your pitch. — Not I'm great, but here's how I can help you sell more advertising for your radio station. That's crucial because when we take relax of confidence and we put that with you focusing on the value that you can create for the person that you're having a conversation with, all of a sudden you have magic. — That's right. And that was 2013. And if they weren't selling those eight commercials, they'd put in Gen Zoo Knives or Pocket Fisherman or, you know, something like that for paid programming. But instead, they're running quality television. They're able to sell those commercials. The show is top rated during that time frame in Savannah. And we've actually, Jeb, never lost a station. We've never had a station cancel our — 100% retention. — Okay, go ahead. No, keep going. — No, because honestly, if they even thought about it, I would be in my car. I would be on my way there. — But but that also says that you're you take care of your stations, — right? — And you you're you stay committed to them. You stay focused on them. And I think a lot of people take for granted what they have versus truly investing in making sure that those stations who are integral to your success are happy with the product that you're producing. To find you on social media, — very stewart, okay, — is the show and then very vera camp is my camp and verosity for the catering side. Actually, I'm very sad that this conversation is coming to an end because I literally could sit here and talk to you all day long. Um, and that's that was my last thing is how do you do it? Cuz you know I tell people all the time I'm from the south and I can't even say hello in less than 30 minutes and you were talking about how you know at the on your telling you to wrap up. That's got to be tough for you. — Yeah. And you know it's like I always say no matter what you do it in good taste. So when you do have to wrap it up, just have that smile on your face. — Very good. Well, with a smile on my face, thank you so much for joining us. — Oh, it was my pleasure. — It's been so much fun. And folks, uh, don't forget, go check out Salesgrave University. You'll find that there is always something new on SalesGrave University as well. And if you've never taken a course there, go take your very first course. You can take any course. Pick anyone. Use the code free course. Go to learn. salesgravy. com. That is learn. salgravy. com. And we'll see you next time on the SalesGravy podcast. The Sales Grey podcast is sponsored by Nooks. Nooks is the signal first workspace that turns real-time intent into real conversations. Their AI agents monitor LinkedIn and CRM signals to tell your team exactly who to reach and what to say. Think of it as having an agent that thinks just like your best rep. When it comes to tools, stop searching and start winning with Nooks. Check out the agent workspace for sales at nooks. ai. That's nooks. ai. NS. ai. Thank you so much for watching this video. Please make sure to click like and subscribe so you never miss a single video. And if you want more sales training content, go to learn. salgrevy. com. at salsgrivby. com.