How to write Business Letters. -Application for all.
How to write Business Letters.
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| Business letters |
If you are lack of business letters writing skill, read this full article. I assure you you will not have any problem regarding business letters in future.
There are few skills you can learn
in an English class that have more obvious, practical use than
the writing of a business letter. No matter what your career as an adult,
I promise you, you will have to
write business letters.
Needs of writing Business letters:
Business letters aren't just written bypeople who wear suits and work
in an office.
You might have to write a cover letter when applying for a job, or write to a manufacturer to ask that they honor their warranty for the electric scooter you bought, or you might have to apply for a grant for your work as a fine artist.
Even in these times of
electronic communications,
business letters are still hanging in there.
How to write effective Business letters.
For this assignment. I have my ownpreferences, so I'll let you know
if I'm teaching you something that might be different from a textbook.
So here's what one looks like.
There's more than one style, but I'm
going to teach you the block style,
because in the India, it has
become more common than the modified block style. This is the style I learned as a teenager back in the Paleolithic Era.
Some of the lines begin
in the middle of the page?
It has to very nicely balanced look.
You'll still see that sometimes, but that
isn't done so much anymore.
Now, with the block style, people just make everything flush-left, like this. It's easier.
Format or Ways of Writing Business Letters.
Notice also that all of it is single-spaced with a skipped line between paragraphs.
So up top here, you have your street
address, a skipped line, and the date.
This is called the heading. It might seem logical to put your name up here, but don't.
In standard business letter format,
you don't put your name.
That goes at the end of the letter only. If you want to include your phone number or email address, that can
go in your heading too.
Next, you put the name and street address of the person you're writing to. That's called the inside address.
Reference books I've seen say to skip one line below the inside address, but I like two or even three skipped lines between the inside address and what comes next.
I think it sets off all this geographical
information up here from the actual content of the letter, the part that matters most. That's
where people actually start reading.
All right, so, below the inside address is the salutation. "Dear so-and-so."
If you don't know the name of
the person you're writing to,
like if you're writing to the
customer service department
for a big company or something, you write, "Dear Sir or Madam."
People sometimes use "To Whom It May Concern," but this is kind of outdated and should be avoided. You could also use the title of the person, like "Dear Customer Service Manager."
It would be great, though, if you could
look around online a bit, or make a call, and find the actual name of the person who will be reading your letter.
Then you can address it to the actual person, always using the respectful honorific, like Mr. or Ms., Dr. or Sen.
But that isn't always possible, so then you have to go with "Dear Sir or Madam."
And follow that with a colon; that's these two dots here. Don't use a comma here like you see in personal letters.
Now, skip one line and begin your letter. The organization of a letter is like most things you'll write. It has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
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| Business letters |
In the introduction, say in just a few words why you are writing. "My electric scooter broke last week, and since it is still under warranty, I would like to receive a new electric scooter." Or, "I would like to be considered for the position of video game tester."
It's kind of like a thesis in an essay.
Get to the point clearly and immediately.
People are busy and will start skimming if you get wordy. One-sentence paragraphs may not be appropriate in an academic essay, but they are perfectly fine in a business letter.
Skip another line now, to create a seconda Paragraph, and give the important details.
Here, too, you want to be concise.
That means to say what you mean in
as few words as possible.
Leave out inessential details.
For example, you don't need to say
that your bike or car or scooter stopped working after you'd already gotten to your destination, so you had to carry it uphill all the way back to your house and another kid saw you
and it was really embarrassing!
They don't care about that. Just say that the warranty says your machine is covered, give the date of purchase, and include a copy of the receipt if you still have it; never the original.
Or if it's a cover letter for a job, here's
where you say what your main
qualifications are, and mention that
your resume is attached.
This is the body of the letter.
Try to keep this down to
one or two paragraphs.
And very few business letters
should be more than one page.
Busy people don't have time
to read a long letter.
In the last paragraph of your business letters, tell the recipient of your letter exactly what you would like him or her to do now. This is where you push your reader into doing the thing you want.
Imagine the reader just asked,
What exactly do you want from me?"
Here's where you need to be very specific, "Please do something about
my electric scooter." No.
What exactly do you want this person
to do right now?
Try, "Please send me instructions
on how I can get a replacement
scooter immediately. Email is the best way to get in touch with me." Get it?
Clear and specific.
Not, "I really want to be considered for this job." You've already said that. Instead, try, "I will call you later this week to make sure you got this letter.
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience." See?
Now, your reader knows you are
going to politely remind him or her
about your request if he or she decides to ignore you.
You aren't going away until you get what you want. And the language I'm using is so generic that you could copy my words exactly and it would be fine. I don't think anyone would consider it plagiarism. I certainly wouldn't.
Then end with something polite, like that "I look forward to hearing from you" or "Thank you for considering
me for this position. "Never be rude or threatening in a business letter
unless you want it thrown in the trash can. Now, at the bottom of the letter, there's the complimentary closing.
"Sincerely" is good.
"Respectfully" is good.
There are lots of old-fashioned sounding closes, like "Very sincerely yours," but unless you're applying for a job in a 19th century theme park, I'd stick with Sincerely or Respectfully.
Do not use personal sounding closings, like "Love" or "Yours truly;" the reader of your business letter is not your friend.
He or she is someone you are doing business with, sound business like unless you want to sound all creepy and stalker-ish.Then skip three lines, type your name, and your title, if you have one that relates to the matter at hand. That's called the signature.
Now you're done, unless you're sending a copy of your letter to a third party, like the Better Business Bureau.
Then, you would skip a couple of lines
and type CC: Better Business Bureau.
That'll get their attention.
By the way, CC: means "carbon copy." You can go ask your grandma what that is speaking of typing, use a really
conservative, businesslike font
like Times New Roman or Helvetica
if you want to be taken seriously.
Never use script-fonts or decorative fonts, which would be like a lawyer wearing Mickey Mouse ears while trying to argue a case in court.
Now, when you print the letter,
sign it in ink right here, below the complimentary close and above the signature. OK, so that's it for the
format and organization.
How to Begin A Business letters
First, type your heading and the date,then the inside address.
Please use this for the inside address.
So, you'll be writing a complaint letter for rude service you received at a clothing store. Here's the scenario:
You received rude service at a store
called The Fashion Plate that is
located at Smithgate Mall on September 2nd. When you asked if their poplin straight-collar shirt came in any other colors, like red or yellow, Muffy, the salesperson, made a face and said, "no, those colors are ugly."
When you said you liked those colors, she told you to shop somewhere else
So, your assignment is to write
a complaint letter
to Mr. Fernandez that is likely to get results.
Point to remember while writing business letters.
Remember: in the first paragraph of your business letter,say why you are writing.
In the second paragraph, give only
the important details. Be concise.
In the last paragraph, tell Mr. Fernandez exactly what you want him to do about it, and end with some
sort of polite comment.
Keep in mind while writing business letters
Keep in mind that a brief, polite and clear letter gets better results thana long, angry, rambling letter.
If your teacher so chooses, you
could then write a letter to yourself,
from Mr. Fernandez, telling you
what he will do about your complaint.
I've had students do that. It's kind of fun. Writing a business letter can be a very empowering act.
In life, as you no doubt know, there will be people who will treat you badly or try to take advantage of you
because they're big and you're small.
A powerless person might throw a brick through the window of the store and get put in jail.
An empowered person has a voice and can make him or herself heard.
An empowered person figures out who has the authority to do something about it, writes a letter, or maybe a series of letters going up the chain of command, and gets positive results instead.
And that's what I want for you.
Happy Business letter-writing.
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