As we begin the fourth quarter of 2026, it’s time to confront our year-end accounting and bookkeeping ledgers—which includes BOTH our personal balance sheet and our business P & L—and the topic of year-end bonuses, raises, royalties are bound to come up.
And that’s whether you are on the receiving end or the giving end…or both.
I’m also talking about more than an Amazon gift card. 🙂
This post is for everyone, whether you are waiting for a year-end bonus, distributing one (or more) …and even if you’re not interested in bonuses at all right now.
It has been my experience (after sitting on both sides of the desk), when it comes to additional compensation, the biggest issue is unreasonable expectations (a universal concept way beyond “bonuses”)…which can lead to devastating consequences.
That is, expecting more than you eventually receive.
The other way around seems fine on the surface…but getting more than you expect can be accompanied by peril too.
I want to share a couple of stories today…one about a salesperson I knew whose expectations were so off base they got her fired; and the other about sending a surprise bonus/royalty when none was expected and how that created a deep, lifelong relationship of collaboration and extreme profit.
“You have to pay me more than last year”
Once upon a time, in the olden days when direct mail ruled the media landscape, there was a phenomenal list manager…someone who could sell (rent) mailing lists to anyone and everyone…whether they needed them or not. 🙂
One day she got a new job selling a family of lists that had never been on the market before (NEW is always a big thing in the world of direct mail lists/media as it is in all media).
And these lists were going to be “hot” (i.e. super responsive) …they were affluent professionals who bought expensive books through the mail in large quantities.
Our ambitious list manager negotiated a deal with the publisher of these books (a large, legacy corporation–dare I say “stuffy”) for a salary and a hefty commission…but not unlike she had negotiated before at previous companies…and she was off and running.
Note that this old school corporation had no idea about the dynamic world and inner workings of the direct marketing/mailing list industry…they were naive but still very excited about the new profit center their lists would produce.
Simply put, they went in with at least one eye open…
However, this “normal deal” netted her–in her first year–a total compensation package that was not only more money than she ever earned in her life, but it was also greater than the CEO of the entire company.
And as I said earlier, it was a large corporation (which means that the CEO made big bucks).
Safe to say it was “high six figures” at a minimum, bordering on seven figures.
Who knew being a list manager could be so lucrative?
The secret to her success was a combination of her selling acumen coupled with representing lists that could have “sold themselves” …because they were new and had a profile that yielded high response rates for almost all who tested (and continued) mailing them.
This windfall, although a big win, was also the beginning of a perfect storm of calamity for our hard driving list manager.
When it came time to negotiate her second year, she followed the rules she had been taught from previous sales jobs, a rule I abhor, but she saw it as gospel.
That is, “If I made X dollars this year, I should make additional income on top of X dollars next year because that’s how salespeople with ambition who have success get paid.”
She didn’t see this first year as a windfall…equal to four or five years of previous compensation…just a big number that had to get bigger because of her talent.
And since her contract was for two years, with a stipulation for an increase in her salary and commission if she met certain goals (which she surpassed by a wide margin), the publisher was obligated to pay her even more in year two.
While I agree a contract is a contract, if she had viewed her first year as a windfall and her second year not as an entitlement, resulting in a windfall on top of a windfall, she might have thought long and hard about renegotiating her salary and commission package downward in exchange for a long run at the company at more money she could make anywhere else.
At least that’s how I would have played it given the outrageous amount she made in year one, a number that was well beyond her wildest dreams (and an unforeseen nightmare for the company).
You can guess what happened after she made even more money in year two…and I have no data whether the CEO got a raise or not.
The CEO unceremoniously let her go as soon as he could.
If there was ever a case of unreasonable compensation that could be acted upon, this was it.
Of course, she probably stockpiled enough cash to last her for five years or more…but I wonder how much she could have made with a “fair” (i.e., robust but not unreasonable) package by working at the company for two decades rather than two years.
This is a somewhat extreme case…but cautionary just the same.
Would you have considered “negotiating down” …at least a little?
I’d love to know what you think.
“You mean copywriters collect royalties?”
In the 1980’s, 1990’s and into the new millennium, I worked with a stable of copywriters who were the best-of-the-best.
I like to think that was because we had the best products and the most competent (and pleasant) staff to work with…but I must admit it was also (mostly?) because we always paid to play…offering large upfront fees plus generous royalties.
Because these word magicians were worth every penny.
That alone was a differentiator…because we understood that the A-List copywriters were a rare breed…and they would prioritize to the clients who would pay the most (and were nice to them too). 🙂
We had one copywriter…who had multiple controls (i.e winners) for us…who had not caught on to the “royalty craze.”
He charged us large upfront fees to write for us…but he simply didn’t know that he could add in a royalty once he created a winner.
And shame on me that I didn’t let him know at the outset…but frankly, I didn’t know he would be that good.
However, once I saw that he was as good as the other royalty writers, I sent him a large bonus check after he wrote us a BIG winner.
When he called me to ask what the check was for, I told him it was for his genius…and specifically, for the current winner and winners of the past.
I then educated him on the world of royalties, and we negotiated a royalty arrangement for all ongoing and future promotions, similar to the arrangements I had with all the top gun copywriters we were working with at the time.
Which led to a partnership like no other…we got first dibs on his calendar (which is a coup with these top copywriters) …he became a true partner and helped us by writing in other media than direct mail…and best of all, he became a trusted friend, much more than a “vendor/copywriter.”
And that trust and friendship went both ways. Over decades.
The lesson here is that when you have a good deal in your favor (in this case, my favor, saving lots of money by not paying a scarce resource what he or she deserved), it’s far more powerful to fess up that you are in windfall territory before the other party lets you know first.
This philosophy led to symbiotic partnerships with all my royalty copywriters, resulting in them being amenable to “tiered royalties” (which I think I invented despite saying I never invented anything).
That is, when the copywriter had a control and certain lists couldn’t be mailed with their royalty, I would produce a spreadsheet (with complete transparency), mapping this out to them…and then getting their permission to mail certain lists without a royalty.
Did I say this philosophy led to trust both ways?
It did.
Which led to additional profit both ways too.
And the best news is that every one of those copywriters I consider a “best friend” …even today when they are no longer working for me.
In fact, four of them—Eric Betuel, David Deutsch, Kim Krause-Schwalm and Parris Lampropoulos—are attending (and speaking) at my “Titans Xcelerator Live” event on October 22nd and 23rd.
Thirty years (or more) of working together—sometimes for money and sometimes for “sport”—counts for something.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And by the way…there are still five (5) seats available for this epic event…I’m not making a scarcity play because that is all the room will hold comfortably…and you can grab one of those seats here.
Note: Those four “best friends” (who happen to be four of the top copywriters in the world) are only one piece of this epic event (which as you can tell, I am very proud of). 🙂
I hope these two examples were instructional in some way…and will enable you to recognize early in every relationship when you’re being paid (or paying) too much…or when you’re being paid (or paying) too little…and stop trying to always get the “upper hand” in every negotiation and “payout.”
My staff often challenged me when I renegotiated a contract with a vendor that was too much in our favor…but if the changes reflected fairness, that’s all that mattered to me.
I always play a long game…and from the many engagements I’ve had with you over the years, I believe you play the game the same way.
I encourage you to read Chapter 10 of my book, Overdeliver which explores “playing the long game” from many different angles over four decades playing in the sandbox called direct response marketing.
As Dan Sullivan, the top coach for entrepreneurs in the world, says (and I am paraphrasing from the paraphrase I used in last week’s post about leaving the past in the past except for what you really need):
Cash is about your past; your knowledge, wisdom, resources, relationship capital, intellectual property–what you take that’s useful from your past–is what moves you forward…today and into the future.
That was worth repeating two weeks in a row. 🙂
One final story to bring this home:
On his deathbed, my most influential mentor, Marty Edelston, asked me a strange question…strange if you didn’t know Marty.
I was sitting on his bed, holding his hand, he was in and out, opening and then closing his eyes.
Then…with his eyes wide open…he asked:
“What deals did you make today?”
If you knew Marty, you’d know that he is one person who would be thinking about “the office” on his death bed…his business was his life.
I told him about some negotiations I was working on, all in the spirit of the things I’ve discussed in these posts over the years, and in my books, letting him know about the give and take…with more give than take.
He simply replied:
“Be fair.”
That’s the final word on this topic…well, two words. 🙂
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. I can understand why most of you didn’t jump at the opportunity to sign up for “Titans Xcelerator Live.”
It’s a hefty expense–$3,000 plus travel and hotel…but I’m perplexed that not all of you have joined Titans Xcelerator yet.
I guess my expectations are unreasonable…but hopefully not calamitous. 🙂
While I know the live event will be worth every penny, I also know that Titans Xcelerator gives you “30 live events” (yes, on Zoom, not the same thing as being in real life but still super powerful) for significantly less than the one in-person event.
It’s my way of creating similar value over a full year.
With the offer I have laid out here, now is the perfect time to “underpay me” for a mastermind that has no competition, no rival, and it is the best value anywhere.
It’s the most wonderful marketing family…without the bickering…simply great people sharing knowledge and wisdom among themselves and with outside experts too.
And I guarantee you will make your own “best friends” inside the membership despite the meetings being held on Zoom.
Up to thirty (30) live calls creating a year of camaraderie, connection, and the most clear-headed, common-sense canniness.
With less alliteration in the future. I promise.
The experts who are members—and those who appear as guest speakers— include the top of the heap in direct response marketing, in media buying, offer creation, funnel building, copywriting, design, AI, and entrepreneurship/marketing leadership.
The members become speakers too…in the way of “Titan Spotlights” and expertly curated Hot Seats.
All of that is a reason to join in itself…but there’s more.
There is a digital portal and a monthly mailing of all the content produced inside and outside the mastermind (including recordings of all the calls), a private (and very active) Facebook group (not mandatory to join for those who don’t use Facebook).
Simply put, Titans Xcelerator is a marketing insurance policy, a de facto Board of Advisors, to present your best opportunities (and most difficult challenges) inside a group of over 250 caring direct response marketers and amazing thinkers.
While always learning.
Please read all about it here…the benefits, the success stories, and some special bonuses.
The fact that we are going on our eighth (8th) year, with close to a 75% renewal rate, kind of says it all.
But it’s worth reading the details just the same. 🙂
Click here.