Writing Business Letters

Letter Style

• Determined by visual factors such as– Paper quality, weight, & color– Letterhead & logo design– Ink colors used in printing– Style & size of font– format

Format Types

• Block format: each line begins at the left margin

• Modified Block format: the date line, the closing, & the writer’s identification being in the middle of the page

• Modified Block with indented paragraphs: same as modified block format except the first paragraph of each line in the body is indented five spaces.

Parts of the business letter

•Heading•Opening•Body•Closing

The Heading

• Letterhead: name, address, telephones numbers etc. of the company

• Letterhead projects the company’s image• Date line: must be written out – February 27, 2011

The Opening

• Directs the letter to a specific individual, company or department

• Most importantly—greets the reader• Consists of the inside address (address of the

person you are writing to)• Attention line (optional) speeds the handling of a

letter or used when a specific person is not being address. Needs to be typed in all caps!

• The salutation comes next.

The Salutation

• AKA the greeting• If you know the person’s name that you are writing

to, you should use it.– Dear Dr. Jones:– Dear Mrs. Smith:

• If you don’t know the person’s name, you should use the generic form salutation.– Dear Sir or Madam:

• The salutation is always followed by a colon (:)!

The Body

• This the message & the most important part of the business letter.

• May include a subject line which tells the reader in advance what the letter is about.– SUBJECT:– RE:

• The body should contain at least 2 paragraphs.

The Closing

• The complimentary closing should match your salutation.

• Some commonly used closing include– Yours very truly, Sincerely,– Very truly yours, Cordially,– Very sincerely yours, Sincerely yours,– Respectfully yours, Best regards,– Very cordially yours, Cordially yours,

• The closing also includes the writer’s signature which is the handwritten signature of the letter writer.

• The writer’s identification is the letter writer’s name & job title TYPED below the signature.

• Reference initials are the initials of the person who prepared the letter; typed in lower case letters after the writer’s identification– Example: KLC:xx

• Enclosure notation is optional if there would happened to be enclosures

• Delivery notation is optional if there is special mail service used.

• Copy notation is also optional; this is used when the letter is sent to more than one person.– Example: cc: John Doe– “CC” stands for carbon copy;

Why write a business letter?

• In a era of instant electronic communication, it is still necessary to write some form of business letter.

• You may need to– Request information– Send information– Correct & apologize for an error– Refuse a request– Explain a procedure or present a problem– Sell a product or service.

The Personal Business Letter

• A letter written by someone for himself as part of a business situation. This type of letter is not written as a representative for a company.

• This type of letter is written to– Correct or clarify personal credit or accounts– Establish credit– Present claims to a manufacturer for defective products.

Social Business Letter

• This type of letter is written can be written as part of the business setting.

• This letter may express thanks to a vendor for a favor, congratulate a colleague who has been promoted, or express sympathy to a colleague who has experienced a death or some other negative situation.

Some tips to remember….

• Pay attention to details.• Be concise with your information.• Use a combination of long & short sentences.• Always thank the reader for their time & any

assistance that can be given.• Include any documentation that will help

clarify or rectify a situation.