Showing posts with label Business Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business Writing. Show all posts
The four areas you must take into consideration for each business letter are listed below. If you do not consider each one of them, your letter will be ineffective.
1. Subject
2. Audience
3. Purpose
4. Style/Organization
Subject
Every piece of writing — from the business letter to the novel — revolves around a subject. Luckily, in the business world the subject is usually specific. Quite often it is supplied for you by someone else, such as a boss or colleague, or demanded by a situation such as hiring or congratulating an employee. It’s a fact: The more specific your subject, the easier it is to write your letter. For example, let’s say that you need to request information about an order that did not arrive when it should have.
If you are in charge of the account, writing the letter is easy. If you are not in charge of the account, it is harder for you to write the letter than it is for the person who knows all the particulars. Regardless of the situation, stick to one or two subjects in your letter. Including more than two subjects clouds your message.
Write another letter if you have more than two subjects.
Audience
This area is tricky because you may not know your audience. If you do, you can tailor your letter to that audience. Many times, however, your audience is larger than you expect. Your letter may be addressed to Terry Smith but may be read by several other people in Terry’s firm to receive the action you wish. If you are
unsure of your audience, assume they are educated, reasonable people until you find out otherwise. Don’t assume they have as much knowledge of the subject of your letter as you do, or you may overgeneralize or forget to include important details.
Purpose
Many letters are sent with a specific subject and audience in mind but are not clear in their purpose. Know why you are sending the letter. Is the letter to inform? Is it to request information? Is it to offer congratulations? Condolences? Is it to get the recipient to act on a request? All of these are very different purposes. You have probably received a letter that, after reading it, left you confused because you didn’t know exactly what it said. The purpose was not clear.
Style/Organization
The first three areas dictate the content, direction and emphasis of the letter.
1. Know WHAT you’re writing about — SUBJECT.
2. Know WHO you’re writing for — AUDIENCE.
3. Know WHY you’re writing — PURPOSE.
Now you are ready to be concerned with HOW you are going to write the letter. The first three areas can be determined in a matter of minutes if you are familiar with the ideas that need to be communicated. The fourth area — style and organization — takes more time.
Planning is a key factor in the accomplishment of any goal. Letter writing is no exception. To successfully construct a clear, effective writing
Some letters do not require as elaborate a plan as others. A letter to a customer detailing a proposal for a product purchase will obviously need a more elaborate plan than a thank-you note for a business lunch.
Common sense can usually dictate how elaborate your plan needs to be. If the information you need to present in a letter is limited enough for you to outline it in your head, there is no real need for an elaborate outline featuring Roman numeral headings and subpoints beneath subpoints. The elaborateness of your plan should suit the elaborateness of the letter to be written.
Of course, if you, as a letter writer, are more comfortable constructing detailed outlines for each of your letters, there is nothing wrong with following that procedure. With enough practice, however, the simpler letters should flow more easily, and the time you might have spent laboring over outline after outline can be directed more constructively to other areas of your business.
The following three steps are essential in the planning of any letter:
1. Researching the facts
2. Analyzing the subject and reader
3. Knowing your objectives and how to accomplish them
If you follow these steps as you are planning to write any letter, you should find that your letters will be clear and well received, and will achieve your desired goal.
Successful professionals know the importance of effective letter writing. You can’t have a good business relationship with customers if they don’t know what you’re trying to tell them in a letter. The services or products of a company cannot be marketed if a prospective customer is baffled by the service or product described. How can a salesperson expect to make a sale when, because of a muddled letter, the prospect can’t even understand what it is that’s being sold?
Letter writing is crucial to the success of every professional. Without letter-writing skills, the professional’s effectiveness is stymied. Before you begin to write more effective letters, you must learn what makes up a good letter. You need to know the importance of planning a letter and gathering all the information you need. The plan is put into practice when you decide on the approach your letter will take and the components necessary to achieve the selected approach. The components of a letter are effective only if you know the proper mechanics involved
in a letter’s structure and appearance. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and language usage are important if your letter is to be understood and well accepted by its reader.
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