It’s quite amazing how often business people fail to follow basic guidelines when it comes to writing their business correspondence. That might explain why so many people come to my writing help Web sites looking for help with their business letter writing. Just as businesses need to be focused and efficient to thrive and succeed, so too does the primary tool of most businesses �" the business letter.
Following are a number of tips and guidelines that I have compiled while reading and writing many hundreds of business letters over the past 25+ years.
1.Limit Them To One Page By definition, business letters should be short and to the point, preferably one page in length. Studies have found that busy business people do not like to read beyond the first page, and will actually delay reading longer letters. So, if you don’t want your letter to gather dust in an in-basket, keep it as short as possible.
2.Be Reader-Friendly Always try to focus on the needs of the reader and make an effort to see things from their perspective. Put yourself in their position and imagine what it would be like for you to be receiving your letter. Anyone can do this, since we are all “customers" of some other business in some part of our lives.
3.Keep The Tone Formal And Factual Generally speaking, the tone and content of business letters should be formal and factual. Feelings and emotions do not have a place in business letters. So, avoid phrases like “we feel" and use “we believe" or “we think" instead. A cordial, friendly approach is fine. Just keep it businesslike, but avoid overly formal terms like “heretofor", “as per", “herewith", etc.
4.Carefully Plan Your Letter Before writing the letter, take a few minutes to list all of the specific points you need to cover. Sometimes it may even mean a phone call to the recipient or his/her company to confirm a specific point. Remember, the purpose of the letter is to tie up all of the details on the subject at hand, so that more letters won’t have to be written back and forth.
5.Make It Clear, Concise And Logical Use a clear and direct writing style that uses simple words and straightforward phrases. Make sure that your flow follows a logical progression, first identifying the main subject, elaborating on it, and then drawing the logical conclusion.
6.Accuracy And Timeliness Are Key By their very nature, business letters need to be accurate and timely. They almost always have financial implications and related impacts on other businesses and/or people. Double-check all of the facts stated in the letter, and make sure that any future dates specified give others enough time to realistically complete what is expected of them.
7.Relegate Technical Details To Attachments Often it is necessary to include detailed technical information as part of a business letter package. In such cases, use the main letter as a cover letter that lists and briefly explains and references the attached (or enclosed) documents.
8.Use Non-Discriminatory Language Make sure that you avoid language that is specific to gender, race, or religion in all business letters, either to other businesses, or to customers. For example, use “workforce" instead of “manpower", or “chairperson" rather than “chairman". Most style guides contain detailed lists of the offensive terms and some suggested substitutes.
9.Eliminate Redundant Words And Phrases There are certain words and phrases that one often sees in business correspondence that tend to make the language more complicated and cumbersome than necessary. For example, instead of the phrase “in spite of the fact that" use “although", or instead of “in the normal course of events" use “normally". There are many such redundant phrases, so review your letter and eliminate them.
If you are running any type of business in which business letters are important communication tools, you would do well to take careful heed of the above tips and advice. Remember, the business correspondence that you issue is a direct reflection of the overall products and/or services offered by your business. Poorly-written, amateurish, and/or shoddy business letters will surely result in lost sales.
The business letters help communicate with business acquaintances just like the other popular mode of communication but with a major difference. Business letters go down in a transaction, as having evidenced whatever matter of relevance, being communicated. But on a normal business day, a business letter puts on record facts and figures which can be referred later unlike what telecommunication does.
The Basics of Writing an Effective Business Letter To get to the basics, you must understand that business letters are bound by sort of unwritten regulations of which, some are specific to the type of letter you are writing. Point number two: Business letters are always written on the organizations? letterheads. Three: The language used must be formal regardless of the occasion and matter.
Address the person by titles like Dear Mr., Dear Ms. Director; General Manager, if you don't know their names and it is fine to use their names when you know. The title Ms., is an important one to watch since you can't write Miss or Mrs., unless you know for sure.
Then there is the section on reference on which you are writing; give a subject title to your letter indicative of the body of your letter.
Begin the matter by explaining your intentions to write and straight away come to the body. For example, you can begin with ??I am writing to enquire about?? if this is a general or a purchase enquiry letter. For communicating discrepancies, begin something like ?We are deeply disappointed to see your fax message regarding ... treating the ....? continuing the letter, you can suggest or state in definitive words, as the case may be, ?We demand a complete refund of?? or ?Our management has decided to return the consignment for??
The closing remarks must be in their formal best. While thanking the reader, you can end it like, yours sincerely, in case you have addressed the letter to none in particular, and then thanking by yours truly is appropriate.
Secret of Business Letter Writing Business letters are also documental evidences apart from being tools of communications. The language, the tone and the format always remain broadly same regardless of the relation you share with the person whom you are writing to.
The business letter drafter must be communicating the matter in full awareness of the subject matter and the eventual consequences of writing it. A wrong or omitted statement could severely deal a blow (Missed skill in your job application, for example.) Make use of common sense and internet guides, if needed.
Both Shaun Fawcett & Namsing Then are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Shaun Fawcett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Education, Writing and Business Loans. Shaun Fawcett is Webmaster of two of the most visited writing-help Web sites on the Net. He is the author of numerous “how-to" books on everyday practical writing help. He also writes about how to create and publish books and ebooks. His main “writing too. Shaun Fawcett's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
Namsing Then has sinced written about articles on various topics from Vitamins, Careers and Job Hunting and Allergies. NamSing Then is a regular article contributor on many topics. Be sure to visit his other websites ,. Namsing Then's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.