The Profit Builder Unscripted

The Secret to Making Bonuses Truly Meaningful

• Vicki Suiter • Episode 26

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Bonuses are great, but let’s face it—sometimes they can feel like just another obligation or something employees expect.

What if you could turn that bonus into something truly memorable?

Imagine this: along with the bonus, you include a handwritten note. Not a generic “Thanks for your hard work,” but something specific and heartfelt like,

“I appreciate how you go the extra mile to make sure clients feel informed and cared for. That effort reflects the identity we’re building as a company.”

That small, personal touch makes the bonus about more than money—it becomes a moment of genuine recognition.

This shift in how you approach bonuses can transform not only how your team feels but also how much you enjoy the process of giving.

Want to hear more about how this simple change has helped other leaders create stronger, more engaged teams? Click here to listen and discover how you can make bonuses—and gratitude—truly count this year.

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welcome back to the profit Builder unscripted if you're looking to give bonuses this year to your team I encourage you to listen to this video I think that you're going to get some really great ideas all right let's jump in one of the things I love about this time of year is that there's this opportunity to give gifts and I don't know about you but I love giving gifts and one of the ways that we often as business owners or managers or leaders give gifts is at the end of the year we're giving bonuses to our employees and for some people it's just a really sweet wonderful time where they get to say hey it's been a really great year for us and we really want to share that and we want our employees to feel that sense of um abundance and that and share in the success that we've experienced and then sometimes I notice that bonuses can kind of show up like a half to or an obligation or from an employees perspective something that's just expected that that's part of their compensation and one of the things that I've seen really is an important reminder when we begin to give gifts or there's actually two things is one is that fundamentally as human beings one of the things that is very important to all of us and maybe you can you can think about this for yourself is that we want to have a sense of value we want to be valued we want to have a sense of contribution and belonging we want to feel like what we do matters it really is fundamentally what drives us as human beings what makes us want to get up out of bed in the morning and it doesn't matter if you know you're the janitor or you're the CEO at some level when we have this Exchange in our work that we do whatever it is that we do and even if you're a homeowner right or a a home you're somebody who works from home and takes care of the family um whatever it is that we do to make our mark on the world we want to feel like it's valued and appreciated and yet there's this interesting exchange that happens that when we give bonuses to people at the end of the year we don't necessarily convey that sense of appreciation and acknowledgement of people in a way that they can feel that sense of value contribution belonging mattering and one of the the practices that I started many years ago was that when I give bonuses cash or anything else I always write a hand personal note about what I appreciate and what I value about that person now there's two different ways one can write a thank you note one way to write a thank you note is to say hey great job thank you very much now if you sent me if I sent you that note and I said to you hey great job thank you very much it it really like you go okay great that's an acknowledgement it's something more than just a check in a piece of you know in an envelope that says here's your bonus right so that's a step in the right direction but it's not really grounded based on a what I call a ground assessment so what's a grounded assessment so a grounded assessment would sound something more like this I'm giving somebody a bonus check and I reflect and let's say it's Steve on my team and I send Steve a note his bonus check and go Steve thank you so much for being part of our team and for the contribution that you've made in our growth this year I really appreciate this is the grounded part I really appreciate how you go out of your way to make sure that you know homeowners are well taken care of at the end of a project and that you know at the end of every day you check in with them and let them know you know make sure that they're okay and that they're well informed and I got to tell you it really means something important in terms of the identity that we're creating as an organization and I really value and appreciate that you take the time and the and that you're conscientious about doing that now the first note probably would take you 30 seconds to write the second note probably three minutes maybe to write and it might seem like it's a little overdone but I got to tell you I mean even just as you hear that doesn't it if you were Steve wouldn't that resonate differently for you um I have seen how this practice when um When leaders are giving bonuses and putting handwritten notes has really made a huge difference in terms of how their teams really hold and value that bonus check that they're getting even if it's just a car just to the grocery store because that's what that company could afford that year and it was enough to pay for Christmas dinner or if it's a you know it's a it's just a small check amount that maybe is going to help them pay for gas for a month or something but they're they're giving it with a heartfelt note that acknowledges that person for their contribution their value and lets them feel seen and heard and like they matter and um and I and I have to say you know I my clients do this I I've had this conversation with people for years and I've just it's been a delight to see how that whole experience of moving from that sense of resentment that people just expected or it being just a thing that you do that you feel obligated to do that not only are the bonuses received in a whole different way by their team and really appreciated because the note note that was included in it but I've also seen how the as owners and leaders that they really enjoy the process of giving bonus is so much more and I've been the happy recipient of some of those notes as some of my clients have sent me you know gifts at the end of the year with a handwritten note and I got to tell you you know I really like it means a lot to me I always so appreciate those notes and those heartfelt sentiments about um that sense of contribution that I got to make to another human being uh so I I I you know there's a there's a video I'm going to share a link to here at the end um down in the in the notes the show notes here for the podcast and if you're watching the video down below in the notes as well about different types of bonuses that you can do it's a Blog that I did um a few years back that actually gives you some ideas if you're looking for creative ideas of how to do bonuses besides maybe just a check uh but this piece whatever it is that you do in terms of when you give the gift give the gift with a note that expresses your appreciation in a grounded way that you you make an assessment in a grounded way that specifically speaks to what's an example of something specific that I appreciate about that person um you may just find that it transforms yours and your team's experience of um yours in giving and theirs in getting bonuses and um yeah it's just it's just I it's been so fun to watch what a sweet difference it's made for the people that I work with as I watch them engage with their team um and give those bonuses and um one other thing I want to offer is that another gift that you certainly are welcome to give your team this year as a bonus would be my book The Profit bleed how managing margin could save your contracting business it might be a great way to for especially for your more senior people if you have project managers or estimators or um sales people or your Finance person um is to share the book with them as a gift at the end of this year because it might be the foundation for setting whatever their next growing Edge is is in the following year um I have I have some clients who actually every time someone is hired no matter what their position is they ask them to read the book before uh you know within the first month of working there so that everybody's kind of on the same page about what are we up to and and what are the what are the criteria for success in running our business anyway so just a thought wanted to put it out there um you are certainly welcome to get the first book for just paying shipping and handling all you have to do is go to the profit lead.com free and you can get the first one free other ones I just ask that you can get them on Amazon um or if you want to do a bulk order through me just let me know um thank you thank you for uh being part of this community thank you for allowing me to spend this little time with you that I do um in these podcasts I um I love working with this industry I love working with contractors I love being able to support people and having their dreams come true and fulfill the vision that they had for growing their business and um and I love being able to support you in this way so thank you for trusting me thank you for being on the journey with me and um nice job in being willing to lean into your own growth and learning even by just listening to these podcasts or videos uh not everybody is willing you know we sometimes say that we want to do things but then there's the taking the action so I just want to acknowledge you for taking the action listening to these videos and continuing to work on your own growth as a leader and a business owner all right thank you again for being here have a wonderful holiday and I'll see you next time on the profit Builder unscripted

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Vicki Suiter

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