Communication Skills Part 9

7/27/2019 Communication Skills Part 9

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Communication Skills Part 9

Letter Writing

Writing letters is not a new activity for us and therefore, most of us think that we can write good letters.

But many of the important aspects of writing are not known to us. Like any other written document incase of letters also we need to be careful about the appearance and the tone. Therefore, the following

points are to be remembered when it comes to appearance

A. Stationery

Stationery is used for the letter as well as the envelope. The moment the receiver receives our letter

what he sees is the stationery. Therefore, if the stationery used is of poor quality or it is not as per

standard practices then the first impression of the receiver about us would be very poor.

Throughout the world white papers are used for sending letters. The texture and the thickness should

be of appropriate quality. Coloured papers are used only for promotional materials and not for writing

letters. The papers should be plain white and not with any self-design nor they should be ruled papers.

The standard size of the papers used is A4. Some companies also use A5 size for writing small letters. In

different countries there may be some small variations in the sizes used, otherwise, these are the

standard sizes.

All official letters go on the company letterheads. Therefore, the printing of these letterheads should be

of excellent quality. It should be always screen or offset printing. The designing of the letterhead is

equally important. The colour, the font size, the company logo; everything should look very attractive

and professional.

The letters should always be typed on a laser or inkjet printer.

The quality of envelope is also very important. Some people think that the envelope is only a cover of

the letter and therefore, not so important. This thinking is absolutely wrong because the first thing

which recipient sees is the envelope. This should be very sturdy depending on the weight inside. The

colour should always be white. In India, government departments use brown colour envelope. But that

is because of a very old practice or tradition. The corporate houses should never use coloured

envelopes.

While writing the address of the receiver it should be complete and clear. Address should not be hand

written. It should be typed directly onto the envelope or address labels should be used. If it is typed on a

plain paper and then pasted on the envelope, it should be done very neatly. Address should never be

without pin code number. Additionally, it is better to type the telephone number of the recipient.

The address of the sender should also be written at the left bottom corner clearly and completely.

Even the way in which postal stamp is stuck and the quantity of gum or glue used to seal the envelope

are important issues. If not done neatly and properly it may spoil the envelope or the address may hide

under the stamp. Also, we should never staple the envelope. Many people do it thinking that it will

secure the inside letter. But it is very annoying for the receiver to take out the staple. Also, sometimes it

may tear the inside papers.

The letter should not be folded too many times. This will spoil the paper. There should be only two folds

which divides the letter into three parts. If the letter carries some such papers with it which should not


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be folded then we must use big envelope and then insert the letter and the accompanying papers

without any fold.

B. Format and Layout

After the stationery the second thing which catches the attention of the receiver is the format and

layout of the letter. With format and layout sometimes we may be flexible to some extent but while

designing the format it is more important to know the current trends and practices. This is the area

where we have seen some changes in the practices. Some of the important points about the format are

as under

1. Complete Letterhead

The letterhead must give complete information about the company. Correct and complete name of the

company with complete address (including city, state, country and PIN code) should be printed. The

address can be printed on the top along with the name or it can also come at the bottom. Apart from

the postal address the electronic address should also be printed. The email and the web site address or

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) should be given. With phone and fax numbers STD code and country

code should be given.

2. Reference Line

Every letter is given a reference number which the receiver refers to when he replies back. This makes

our job easy to know as to which letter the receiver is referring to in his reply. The reference number is

written on top left corner of the letterhead below the name and address. This number normally carries

the code numbers or short forms of the departments or sections and a number. Some firms also use the

year. These days it is found unnecessary to use words Ref or Ref no. before the reference number

because it is very obvious or clear.

3. Date

The date of the letter is usually mentioned in the top right corner of the letter. Again, while writing the

date it is not really necessary to use the word Date. There are different date formats used in different

countries. The most common are American (mm/dd/yy) and European (dd/mm/yy). Therefore, if only

numbers are written then it may be confusing. It is better to write the date as, May 5, 20xx or 2nd June,

20xx.

4. Signposts

Now a days it has become outdated to write the words To and From in the letter because the letters

are always sent to outsiders therefore, it is very clear as to who is sending to whom. Sometimes while

writing the address we use M/S with every company name. This is wrong. The words M/S should be

used only for partnership firms or when it is addressed to a firm which is run by more than one person.

5. Attention Line

When the receiving companys address is written on the top but we want the letter to go to a particularexecutive/person then some people use the attention line in which it is written, Attention Mr. S. K.

Sharma or For kind attention Mr. S. K. Sharma. In a modern style this is not done. Instead it is better

to write the name of the person in the address to whom we are sending the letter. While writing the

names of the person we must start with an appropriate prefix, like Mr. Dr. Prof. Mrs. Miss or Ms. If the

addressee is a female and we are not sure about her marital status then we should say Ms which is

applicable to all the females.

6. Salutation


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The salutation is how you begin your letter like, Dear sir, Dear Madam etc. One has to be very careful

about the salutation. The first problem is if we do not know whether the receiver is a male or a female.

Instead of guessing or using the very common Dear sirs, it is better that we find out the name of the

recipient. Once we know the name we can write either sir or madam. If the person is not very well

known to us or is very senior in position then we should always say Sir or Madam and should not use the

name of the person. The name can be used if the person is known to us or we want to make our letter

look personalized (which is strongly recommended unless the situation is very formal). Along with Mr. or

Ms. if we want to use the name then it is always the last name. It should neither be the first name nor

the full name. The full name with Dear Mr. or Ms. is used when we do not know the sex of the recipient

(it may happen when we deal with foreign names). Unless we are sending a circular type letter we

should never say Dear sir/madam. We can use the first name of the person with Dear only if the

person is junior or well known to us (with such people while talking over telephone or personally we use

the first name). Finally, if the recipient has earned some title for himself then we must use that title with

his/her name such as Dr. or Prof.

7. Subject Line

The subject of the letter is written in between the salutation and the body of the letter. It is highlighted

using bold, underlined or italicized letters. It should be very short, not more than five or six words butshould convey the meaning. The word Subject or Sub before or Regarding or Reg after the subject

are no more used in modern letters. However, we may find it in letters coming from government

departments.

8. Closing and Signature

The closing of the letter depends on how it was started. If we use very formal Dear sir or Madam in the

beginning then the letter should end with yours faithfully. If we use the name of the receiver in the

beginning then we should close with yours sincerely. If the person is known to us and we use his/her

name in the beginning then we can close with kind regards, warm regards etc. Some people write

Thanks and regards. This is completely wrong and should never be written. It has become a practice to

write Thanking you. But not really needed. If at all we want, we should write fully as thanking you for

your help or cooperation. Before signing we should write our name properly and should not use any

prefix like, Mr. or Ms. Some people write Prof. or Dr. while signing. This is not done in a polite society. A

medical doctor of course should write Dr. before signing.

Tone

After taking care of appearance the next aspect which is important is the tone of the letter. While

deciding the tone we should remember the different approaches and organization plans of a document

discussed in the previous part. The following points are important while developing the content and

tone of a letter

1. Too Wordy and Complicated

Many people do not know how to say what they want to say in a few words. As a result they use a verylong letter and write many things which are not relevant or not needed. But they think that they must

write all those points otherwise the letter will not be complete. We must remember that business

people do not have a lot of free time, therefore, we should develop the skill of writing letters which are

precise and concise.

2. Indirect or Third Person Tone


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We have adopted this habit from the government type correspondence which is authoritative in nature

and normally does not give importance to personalized communication. But this is not advisable in

business communication. In business communication we should avoid using indirect or third person

tone. As far as possible we should write in first person and try to make our letter look personalized. This

will go a long way in developing goodwill and relationships.

3. Boring Beginning

Most of the letters start like thiswith reference to your letter ----- or in some other similar manner.

There is nothing wrong in such beginning. But if we could bring in some new styles and different ways of

starting the letters then it will certainly leave a very positive impression on the receiver.

4. Avoid Emotions

Many times if we do not get response to our earlier correspondence we lose our cool and give way to

our anger in the next communication. This is certainly not going to help in developing good relations.

Even if we have to use some tough language we can keep our tone polite. This will not hurt the receiver

of the letter and he will appreciate the gestures shown by the writer.

5. Tabular Presentation

Sometimes depending on the contents and the purpose of the letter the presentation can be made

more effective if the facts are presented in tabular format instead of writing very long text. This, of

course, may not be possible for all the letters. But wherever it is possible this format should be tried to

make the letter compact and more readable.

Finally, as has been mentioned in the beginning the general rules of organizational plan and the

approaches of writing a message should be followed to make the letters more effective and

professional.

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Documents

Communication Skills Part 9