- 1. INTRODUCTION
Letters are the ambassadors of your
organisation. Many people will never meet you, but
they will form an impression based on your
correspondence
A letter has a key-role to play in personal and
business communication
People have a tendency to avoid letter writing
for one of two reasons:
1) they find the task unpleasant or
2) they fear or know they are bad at it.
. The category you can do something to change, is the
second one. Become aware of common mistakes
people make when writing letters and you can improve
your letter writing skills
- 2. TYPES OF LETTERS
•INFORMAL LETTER WRITING
–Letters to friends and relatives
•BUSINESS LETTER WRITING
–Used by traders, firms and
companies
•OFFICIAL LETTER WRITING
–Communication of information by
government officials from one dept
to another and also to companies.
- 3. What is a Business Letter?
A business letter is a letter written in
formal language, usually used when
writing from one department to another, or
for correspondence between such
organizations and their customers, clients
and other external parties.
- 4. PURPOSE OF EFFECTIVE WRITING
• Writing is essential to communicate your
message clearly and professionally.
• To incite action in those who you
supervise, work with and require action
from.
• Lack of confidence in the workforce who
struggle with the basics of writing including
grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• While writing a letter the writer has to
anticipate the reader's questions and
provide answers to those questions.
- 5. Examples of Letters in Business
• Enquiries: requesting information, catalogue, prices,
estimates, details, samples, suggesting if something is
possible, methods of payment, asking for discount,
delivery times, etc.
• Replies and Quotes: confirming help, selling products,
referring to someone, suggesting demonstration,
contacting local representatives, quotations, price lists,
discount, alternatives to something, explaining
payment, delivery times, product training programmers,
fix and negotiate terms, estimates.
• Orders: placing order, letter of acceptance confirming
conditions and terms, delivery times, packing, shipping,
accepting or rejecting changes, delivery delays,
refusing a delivery …
- 6. Examples of Letters in Business
• Payment: invoices, pro-forms, statements of account,
methods of payment (home or abroad), advice of
payment, of non-payment, further reminders and final
demands
• Complaints: writing complaints, explaining problems,
suggesting acceptable solutions, replies to complaints,
justifiable and unjustifiable complaints, explaining
company's situation, adjusting accounting errors.
• Credit and Banks: form of credit, credit requirements,
asking for credit, accepting or refusing credit, taking up
references, bank facilities, deposit accounts, requesting
cheque books, credit cars, overdraft, outstanding
orders
- 7. Writing Effective Letters
• Analyze Your Audience:
– Who is my audience?
– Will my audience be favorably or unfavorably disposed to what I
am going to say?
– What kinds of information will my audience expect me to supply?
– How will my audience use the information I am sending?
– What impression do I want my letter to make on readers?
• Have a clear sense of your purpose and theirs
• Select the best communication strategy
• Draft, revise, and edit your letter
- 8. The Main Components of a
Business Letter
• Business letters usually contain the following information (in this
order):
1. Writer's address (street, city, country).
2. Date of writing
3. Recipient's name, job title, and address
4. Subject
5. Salutation or Greeting (Dear Mr./ Mrs./ Ms…..)
6. Message (body of the letter)
7. Closing
8. writer's signature, typed name, and position of sender
9. In some situations, a business letter may also include the
following optional information:
10. Writer's Initials: typist's initials ( if writer did not type letter).
11. Enclosures (Encl:)
12. Carbon copy Recipients (cc:)
13. Photocopy recipients (xc:)
- 9. Salutation
• To address a person whose name or sex
you do not know you use Dear Sir or
Madam
• *When you do not know the name of a man
you are writing to, Dear Sir is used.
• *If you are addressing a woman whose
name you do not know, you use Dear
Madam.
• When you are addressing a company, you
begin your letter Dear Sirs
- 10. An opening
This says why you are writing. For example
• *We are writing to enquire about...
*We are writing in connection with...
*We are interested in ...and we would like
to know...
If you are answering the letter, you can start:
• *We have received your letter of....
*Thank you for your letter of....
- 11. BASIC BODY STYLE:
Plan your letter in advance and keep it simple
1ST
PART of the body: • State the purpose of
the letter
2ND
PART of the body: • Sate your point. explain
what you want to happen. Explain the
information you have. You have a lot of
information? Break it, make short paragraphs,
list the points, or include it as an attachment.
3RD
PART of the body: • Call for action or
request some form of action. what to do and
when to do it
Thank the reader for his or her response
- 12. Signing off…..
Here are some ways to end a letter
• *I look forward to receiving your
reply/order/products
*Looking forward to hearing from you
• *I hope that this information will help
*Please contact me/let me know if you
need any further information
• If you know them personally - Yours sincerely
• If you don’t know them - Yours faithfully
• RE-READ YOUR WHOLE LETTER!!!!
- 13. Basic Letter Formats
There are three common formats for
the business letter:
1. The unblocked format.
2. The semi-blocked format.
3. The blocked format.
- 14. The unblocked format
The first line of the paragraph is
indented a few spaces
The writer's address, the date, the
closing, the writer's signature , and the
typed version of the writer's name and
job title are indented two thirds of the
way across the page.
- 16. The semi-blocked format
The first line of the paragraph is lined up
with the left margin
There is an extra blank line between
paragraphs to signal the start of a new
paragraph.
The writer's address, date, closing, and
signature are indented as in the unblocked
format.
- 18. The blocked format
The first lines of paragraphs and all the other
address, date, closing and signature
information are lined up with the left margin.
There is an extra blank line between
paragraphs.
- 20. The Use of Letterhead
Stationery
• When a writer is representing a company or
organization, he/she should use the
organization's letterhead stationery for
correspondences with people outside the
organization.
• When using letterhead, the location of the
writer's address, city, state will be usually given
in the letterhead typed at the top of the page.
• If a letter requires more than one page, the
additional pages are called continuation pages
are typed on plain paper, not letterhead.
- 22. Technical Suggestions on Letters
• Capitalization
– Don’t overdo it (e.g. no need to cap job titles,
seasons of the yr, courses taken, senior, agriculture,
etc.)
• Punctuation
– Don’t overuse commas, semicolons; use periods to
avoid run-on sentences; no need to use period after
two-letter abbreviation of state or street
• Spelling
– No mistakes (use spell check); pay attention to
hyphenated words (e.g. in-depth, two word
adjectives preceding noun).
• Small words better than big words for eg:
– try vs endeavor
– end vs terminate
– begin vs commence
- 23. Technical Suggestions on Letters
• Use conversational style
– Example: ‘Enclosed herewith is the above mentioned and
requested information’ vs ‘I am enclosing the information you
requested’
• ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE Instead of:
In early April, all applications will be reviewed by the
committee
Use: The committee will review all applications in early
April
Don’t use multiple fonts or typefaces. In addition to
making sure your chosen font is easy to read, you
should also avoid the use of too many typefaces
Do not use language that is too colloquial like
"Don't worry, I'll get your money back". Something like
" Your loan will be repaid" is much better
- 24. INFORMAL VS FORMAL
In the process of going from the informal to
the formal, certain syntactic changes often
take place like:
• - Verbal style tends to become Nominal
• e.g. I received -> I acknowledged receipt.
• - Present tense change:
• e.g. I'm referring -> I refer
• - Personal becomes Impersonal
• e.g. I am reluctant to resort to such measures
• -> we are reluctant to resort to such ,measures.
- 25. INFORMAL VS FORMAL
• Active to passive voice transformation:
• e.g. You haven't settle your bill yet
• -> Payment of your bill is still outstanding
• - Contractions are replaced by full forms:
• e.g. I'll have to -> I shall have to
• - Short, simple sentences become longer and more
complex:
• e.g. I refer to your letter of 10th October. In it we asked
you to clear the balance of $ 519.35. This amount has
been outstanding since last July
• -> With reference to your letter of 10th October, we
would like to remind you again to clear the balance of $
519.35, which has been outstanding since last July.
- 26. Common grammar errors and
recommendations
IS BECAUSE?
• Mistake: The reason that our stock price fell
is because third quarter earnings were low.
• Correction: The reason that our stock price
fell is that third quarter earnings were low.
GOOD OR WELL?
• Mistake: We are pleased to report that the
mutual funds performed good this fiscal
year.
• Correction: We are pleased to report that the
mutual funds performed well this fiscal year.
- 27. Common grammar errors and
recommendations
DISTANCE, MONEY, AND TIME?
• Mistake: Six miles are the distance between the
home office and the satellite office.
• Correction: Six miles is the distance between the
home office and the satellite office.
ITS OR THEIR?
• Mistake: The practice of this management
company is to have each corporate tenant sign
their lease on the third day of the month.
• Correction: The practice of this management
company is to have each corporate tenant sign
its lease on the third day of the month
- 28. Common grammar errors and
recommendations
IT'S OR ITS?
• Mistake: Energy Electronics is introducing it's brand new
line of heating units at the convention.
• Correction: Energy Electronics is introducing its brand
new line of heating units at the convention.
WHO OR WHOM?
• Mistake: We will award free parking to the employee
who the personnel director selects.
• Correction: We will award free parking to the employee
whom the personnel director selects.
- 29. The Importance of drafting
Letters
• Represent your company’s public image
and your competence
• More personal than a report, yet more
formal than memos or e-mail
• More permanent than e-mail
• Constitute an official legal record of an
agreement
All depends upon how well it is
drafted and presented
- 30. Drafting good letters is an art that all
people especially technical should
master.
The style and skills required for formal
writing are best developed by practice
and experience, but with the right tools
and know-how it is not hard to improve.
So, lets make a start right now…..
FINAL QUOTES
- 31. Writing letter exercises
• Pretending that you were working for an
advertising company and one of its competitors
invited you to work for them. Writing a letter
accepting/refusing the invitation
• Pretending that your company receives
complaints from your familiar customers, write a
reply to this complaint.
• Pretending that you are applying for a job in
HUFS campus, write an application form for this
situation.
- 32. Points to be noted in CLAIM LETTERS:
Purpose: Express a complaint and request specific
action (must have both)
• Choose a direct or indirect approach
– Direct is best for routine claim letters: claim is backed by
guarantee, warrantee, contract, reputation, or more
– Indirect is best for arguable claim letters: when the claim is
debatable or unusual
• Use a professional, rational, if possible positive, tone,
and not a hostile, negative, and/or emotional tone
• Clearly describe product or service with necessary
details
• Explain the problem with details
• Propose a fair, precise, and appropriate
request/adjustment
• Present an explicit deadline
- 33. ADJUSTMENT LETTERS:
Purpose: Respond to claim letter with
solution
• Work to reconcile the situation and restore
the customer's trust in your company
• “Be prompt, courteous, and decisive”
• Use a positive or neutral tone without
being begrudging or taking full blame
• Two types: “Yes” or “No”
- 34. “YES” ADJUSTMENT LETTERS
• Start with an apology and admit claim is
justified
• Quickly present favorable news
• Specifically state how you are correcting
the problem
• Explain what happened and why
• Conclude with a friendly, positive note
- 35. “NO” ADJUSTMENT LETTERS
• Use an indirect approach
• “Thank the customer for writing”
• Restate the customer’s problem
• Explain what happened and why without placing
blame
• Clearly state discussion without hedging
• Link “no” to benefits
• Conclude with concise gracious statement to
(leave) open the door to future business
