Tenterden PTY Ltd
The Standard Letter
Business letters can be broken down to a few basic types which can be applied to most situations. These standard correspondence formats have been tried and tested extensively, they work so it would make a lot of sense to set you letter templates up in WORD (or whatever) around these formats:
The Request Letter
The Yes Letter (Yes we want to business with you / employ you)
The No letter (decline an offer, reject an employment applicant)
The Persuasive Letter
AND remember whatever the letter; it is a piece of communication between you and another single person reading the letter. Have empathy for the person reading what you are writing, write in their language, and in a friendly conservational tone.
The Content
The overall aim of a business letter is to communicate a message and leave the reader feeling good about themselves and this in turn means they will feel good about your business. This is very important because as we all know....
"A friend tells a few other friends but enemies will tell everybody"
So when it comes to adding the content to a business letter there is a few standard formats you can follow to help ensure that you achieve these aims.
The message usually revolves around answering a query, informing someone of a negative or positive outcome or responding to a complaint or even responding to praise (Yes, you need to do that as well)
3 Steps in Writing:
(Macquarie College )
Note:
Standard margins in Word should match unless you have non-standard letterhead
ALL parts of the letter commence on the left margin (full block style
Open punctuation - no punctuation on display lines as per sample.
Business letters can be broken down to a few basic types which can be applied to most situations. These standard correspondence formats have been tried and tested extensively, they work so it would make a lot of sense to set you letter templates up in WORD (or whatever) around these formats:
The Request Letter
- to ask someone to do something or continue what they are doing
- Introduce yourself (business) and state clearly what you are requesting up front
- Give the background or reason that you are making the request
- Ask specific questions (this implies you want a specific answer)
- Identify exactly when, where and how you need the request to be confirmed
- close politely
The Yes Letter (Yes we want to business with you / employ you)
- Open with the main message
- Give specific answers or details
- close politely
The No letter (decline an offer, reject an employment applicant)
- Open with a polite buffer paragraph that is neutral and avoids immediate hostility
- lead logically through the reasons for making the decision
- specify the decision clearly
- make an alternative offer or a positive suggestion (to restore friendship)
- close politely
The Persuasive Letter
- to get someone to act in a certain way or adopt your point of view.(This is the basis for a marketing letter, but this can be a whole topic on its own....)
- Arouse the readers interest (best done with something that will benefit them)
- Build your case by leading logically the issue that surround the decision you are asking them to make.
- Show the reader the benefits that they will receive if they agree
- Ask specifically for the necessary action required to accept the offer
AND remember whatever the letter; it is a piece of communication between you and another single person reading the letter. Have empathy for the person reading what you are writing, write in their language, and in a friendly conservational tone.
The Content
The overall aim of a business letter is to communicate a message and leave the reader feeling good about themselves and this in turn means they will feel good about your business. This is very important because as we all know....
"A friend tells a few other friends but enemies will tell everybody"
So when it comes to adding the content to a business letter there is a few standard formats you can follow to help ensure that you achieve these aims.
The message usually revolves around answering a query, informing someone of a negative or positive outcome or responding to a complaint or even responding to praise (Yes, you need to do that as well)
3 Steps in Writing:
- PLAN - sketch out a plan of what your letter needs to contain to meet its objective, what sort of letter is it?
- WRITE - put it down on paper (or the monitor I guess:) complete the letter in draft form before you edit it.
- EDIT and REWRITE - have a break, come back and edit it. Do it from a perspective of whether it meets the objective of writing the letter. Sometimes it helps to get somebody else to read it as well.....
(Macquarie College )
Note:
Standard margins in Word should match unless you have non-standard letterhead
ALL parts of the letter commence on the left margin (full block style
Open punctuation - no punctuation on display lines as per sample.
Please click the black button below to go to Business Correspondence
Please click the red button below to go to Writing Effective Business Correspondence