Writing an Effective Business Letter
Greg Tigges
Transform companies to manage documents more efficiently by providing cost effective solutions to help increase profits.
Trying to find a way to make your small business’ communications stand out? E-mail may be the quick and convenient way to relay daily business messages, but the printed business letter is still the preferred way to convey important information. It’s also a tool that underutilized in this digital age.
A carefully crafted letter presented on attractive letterhead can be a powerful communication tool. To make sure you are writing the most professional and effective letter possible, use the business letter format and template below and follow these basic business letter writing guidelines.
Select a professional letterhead design for your small business: Your business letter is a representation of your company, so you want it to look distinctive and immediately communicate high quality. For a convenient and economical alternative to using traditional preprinted letterhead, try using our letterhead and envelope design templates. Simply create a letter within a predesigned color letterhead template and then print your entire piece quickly and beautifully on your Xerox? color printer.
Use a standard business letter format and template: The most widely used format for business letters is block style, where the text of the entire letter is justified left. The text is single spaced, except for double spaces between paragraphs. Typically, margins are about 1 inch on all sides of the document, which is the default setting for most word processing programs. If you are using Microsoft Word, peruse the templates to find the one that works best for you.
These are standard business letter fields:
Date: Use month, day, year format such as March 3, 2021
Sender's Address: It is a good idea to include sender's email and url, if available. Don't include this information if it's already incorporated into the letterhead design. This will allow customers to find your small business more quickly.
Inside Address: Use full name. Mr./Ms. is optional
Salutation: Be sure to use a colon at the end of the name, not a comma as in personal letters.
Body Text: State why you are writing. Establish any connection/mutual relationship up front. Outline the solution, providing proof in the way of examples and expert opinions. Group related information into paragraphs.
Closing Call to Action: State what the reader needs to do and what you will do to follow up.
Signature Block: Sign your letter in blue or black ink.
Enclosures: This is a footnote on the letter that you use if you have an any paperwork enclosed other than the letter.
Carbon Copy: This is a footnote on the letter that you use if you are sending a copy to additional people.
Use a professional tone. Save casual, chatty language for email. Your printed business letter should be friendly but more professional. As Scott Ober suggests in his book Contemporary Business Communication, "The business writer should strive for an overall tone that is confident, courteous, and sincere; that uses emphasis and subordination appropriately; that contains nondiscriminatory language; that stresses the "you" attitude; and that is written at an appropriate level of difficulty." That said, be sure to sound like yourself - you don't want your letter to read as if a machine wrote it.
Write clearly. State your point early in your letter. To avoid any miscommunications, use straightforward, concise language. Skip the industry jargon and instead choose lively, active words to hold your reader's attention.
Organize your information logically. Group related information into separate paragraphs. In a long, information-packed letter, consider organizing information into sections with subheads. You may want to highlight key words to make them stand out. This technique is possible with most word processing programs and your color multifunction printer.
Use Color to Emphasize Words in Text. It's easy to put a few words in color to draw attention to them. Just select the type and click the arrow to the right of the Font Color button, choose the color you want, then click the button. Or, try highlighting a few words in the text. Select the type you want to emphasize, then click the Highlight button. Note: When highlighting parts of a document you intend to print, use a light color such as yellow, light green or light blue. If you wish to remove the highlighting, select the text and click the Highlight button again.
AutoText automates applying color (or any type style), which would ordinarily take numerous clicks or commands. Say you're creating a report that compares your organization's performance against that of your competitor. Word can automatically color your company's name every time it appears, making those entries easy to locate.
Be persuasive. Establish a positive relationship with your reader right away. If you have a connection to the reader, you've met before or have a mutual colleague, for example, mention it in your introductory paragraph. Whether you think your reader will agree with the point of your letter or not, it is important to find common ground and build your case from there.
Understand your reader well enough to anticipate how he or she will react when reading your letter. Address his or her needs or wishes, or a specific problem, and then outline your solution. Provide proof in the way of examples and/or expert opinions to back up your point. Make sure to maintain a friendly tone.
Conclude your letter with a call to action. State clearly what your reader needs to do or believe to achieve the desired solution and then state what you, the writer, intend to do next to follow up.
Proofread your letter: All your careful crafting and printing can't cover up spelling or punctuation errors, which leave a lasting negative impression.
This business letter format illustrates the specific parts of a business letter:
(print business letters on corporate letterhead stationery)
Date
July 20, 20xx
Sender's Address
GP & Associates
2053 SW Channing Avenue, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80016
Inside Address
Ms Tia Turfingeon
ACTION ITEMS
3400 Onesite Parkway
Denver, CO 80016
Saluation
Dear Ms. Turfingeon,
Body Text: I understand from our mutual acquaintance, Chad Johnson, that you are looking to retain an accountant to assist you in the sale of your business. I would welcome the opportunity to show you how GP & Associates was able to help Chad successfully sell his business earlier this year.
As you'll see on our website, my associates and I have extensive experience in financial accounting, internal audits, and tax compliance. For the past several years, we have specialized in business evaluation and transition services for sellers. We enjoy working closely with clients throughout the sale process to ensure a smooth transition. As our clients can attest, our various pre-sale price improvement strategies can significantly optimize a business's sale price.
Should you be thinking of purchasing another business, please note that we also offer business acquisition services. For your convenience, I have enclosed additional information describing GP & Associates full range of services.
Call to action: To set up an appointment to discuss your specific needs, please contact me at 303-449-0037. I know how busy you are, so I will give you a call on Tuesday to follow up if I haven’t heard from you.
Best Regards,
Signature Block
Greg Parker
Enclosures
CC:
Now that you've learned the secrets of writing an effective business letter, you're ready to start composing. Good luck!
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Retired Dean of Library Services at Missouri State University
3 年Excellent advise.