LETTER WRITING
Successful Letter Writing
at work
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LETTER WRITING
Writing an effective business letter
requires that you acquire good language
skills and fully understand the style and
format of business letters.
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The Importance of Letters
1. Letters represent your company’s
public image and your competence
2. Letters are more personal than a
reports, yet more formal than memos
or e-mail
3. Letters are more permanent than e-
mail
4. Letters constitute an official legal
record of an agreement
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The Importance of Letters
5. Letters follow up on telephone calls
and other types of oral
communications
6. Letters provide a wide range of
corporate information
7. Letters can support action
8. Letters sell
9. Letters are efficient for targeted mass
mailings
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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
Conduct appropriate research
Select the best communication strategy
Draft, revise, and edit your letter
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Proofreading Your Letter
Proofread everything that has your
name on it
Take time to proofread your letter for
– Errors of fact
– Miscalculations
– Misrepresentations
– Accuracy of prices, dates, and serial
numbers
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Achieving the “You Attitude”:
Four Guidelines
1. Never forget that your reader is a real
person
– Avoid writing cold, impersonal letters
2. Keep the reader in the forefront of your letter
– Make sure your reader’s needs control the tone,
message, and organization of your letter
3. Be courteous and tactful
4. Be neither boastful nor meek
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Seven Cs of Written
Communication
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Parts of a Letter
Date line
Inside address
Salutation
Subject line
Text of the letter
Complementary close
Signature
Enclosure(s) line
Copy notation
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Full Block Layout
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Modified Block Layout
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Modified Block Layout with Indented
Paragraphs
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Types of Letters
Four common types of business
correspondence
[Link] letters
[Link] request letters
[Link] letters
[Link] relations letters:
– Follow-up
– Complaint
– Adjustment
– Collection
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Types of Letters
Classifications of business letters
– Positive
Customer relations letters responding favorably to a
writer’s request or complaint
Sales letters promoting a product
– Neutral
Letters requesting information about a product or service,
placing an order, or responding to some action or
question
– Negative
Customer relations letters refusing a request, saying no to
an adjustment, etc.
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Inquiry Letters
Inquiry letters ask for information about a product,
service, publication, or procedure
Be sure to supply appropriate stock and model
numbers, pertinent page numbers, or exact
descriptions
Rules for effective inquiry letters:
– states information writer wants
– indicates clearly why the writer must have the information
– keeps questions short and to the point
– specifics when the writer must have the information
– thanks the reader
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Special Request Letters
1. Make sure you address your letter to the
right person
2. State who you are and why you are writing
3. Indicate clearly your reason for requesting
the information
4. Make your questions easy to answer and
separate them clearly.
5. Specify exactly when you need the
information and allow sufficient time
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Special Request Letters
6. Offer to forward a copy of your report, paper,
or survey in gratitude for the help you were
given
7. If you want to reprint or publish the materials
you asked for, indicate that you will secure
whatever permissions are necessary
Assure confidential, if that is appropriate
8. End by thanking the reader for helping
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Sales Letters:
Some Preliminary Guidelines
1. Identify and limit your audience
2. Use reader psychology
3. Don't boast or bore
4. Use words that appeal to the readers’
senses
The Four A’s of Sales Letters
5. Be ethical Get reader’s attention
Highlight product's appeal
Shows product’s application
End with specific request for action
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Customer Relations Letters
Deal explicitly with establishing and
maintaining friendly work relations
Send readers good news or bad news,
acceptances or refusals
Good news tells the customers that
– You have what they want at a reasonable price
– You agree with them about a problem they brought
to your attention
– You are approving their loan
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Customer Relations Letters
Bad news tells the customers that
– You are rejecting a proposal they offered
– You are denying someone further use of a facility
– You cannot refund their purchase price or perform
a service again as they requested
– You are raising their rent or not renewing their
lease
– You want them to pay what they owe you now
– You are downsizing, moving, etc. and cannot
continue to provide a service
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Being Direct or Indirect
Good news message
– Use the direct approach
– Start your letter with the news the reader wants to hear
Don’t postpone the opportunity to put your reader in the right
frame of mind
– Then provide any relevant supporting details, explanations,
or commentary
Bad news message
– Use the indirect approach
– Start your letter with pleasant, positive words designed to put
your reader in a good frame of mind
– Explain the situation
– End on a positive, upbeat note
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Follow-Up Letters
A follow-up letter is a combination thank you
note and sales letter
1. Begin with a brief and sincere expression of
gratitude
2. Discuss the benefits (advantages) already known
to the customer and then transfer the company’s
dedication to the customer from the product or
service to a new or continuing sales area
3. End with a specific request for future business
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Complaint Letters
Never send a nasty letter
Avoid the following
– Name calling
– Sarcasm
– Insults The key thing to remember is
– Threats that you can disagree
without being disagreeable
– Anger
– Unflattering clip art
– Intimidating type fonts (e.g., all capital letters)
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Establishing the Right Tone
A complaint letter is written because you
want some specific action taken
By adopting the right tone, you increase
your chances of getting what you want
Register your complaint courteously and
tolerantly
The “you attitude” is especially important
here to maintain the reader’s goodwill
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Writing an Effective Complaint Letter
1. Begin with a detailed description
– Product
– Service
2. State exactly what is wrong with the product
or service
– How many times did the machine work before it
stopped?
– What parts were malfunctioning?
– What parts of the job were not done or were
done poorly?
– When did all this happen?
– Where and how were you inconvenienced?
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Writing an Effective Complaint Letter
3. Briefly describe the inconvenience you
have experienced
4. Indicate precisely what you want done
– Your purchase price refunded
– Your model repaired or replaced
– A completely new repair crew provided
– An apology from the company for discourteous
treatment
5. Ask for prompt handling of your claim
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Adjustment Letters
Respond to complaint: how their claim
will be settled
Reconcile the differences and restore
the customer’s confidence
Be prompt, courteous, and decisive
Investigate the complaint quickly and
determine its validity
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Adjustment Letters
Writing a “Yes” Letter
Admit immediately that the customer’s complaint is justified and
apologize
State precisely what you are going to do to correct the problem
Tell customers exactly what happened
End on a friendly—and positive—note
Writing a “No” Letter
You are faced with the sensitive task of conveying bad news
At the same time you must convince the reader that your position is
fair, logical, and consistent
Write a letter that is customer-centered
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Adjustment Letters:
How to Say “No” Diplomatically
Thank customers for writing
State the problem so the customer realizes
that you understand the complaint
Explain what happened with the product or
service before you give the customer a
decision
Give your decision without hedging
Leave the door open for better and continued
business
Turn your “No” into a benefit for the reader
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Thank
You
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