+
Nuke Farida, SS, M.I.Kom Gunadarma University Oct-Dec 2013
Business Letter’s
+
Business Letters
The four areas you must take into consideration for writing an efective business letter:
1. Subject 2. Audience 3. Purpose
+
Subject
Know WHAT you’re writing about
Stick to one or two subjects in your letter. Including more than two subjects clouds your message.
+
Audience
+
Purpose
Know WHY you are sending the letter.
+
Style/Organizational
The Basic organization for the body of business letters:
Part 1: State your purpose
Example:
“Thank you for your conscientious service. All 15 of
+
Style cont’d
Part 2: Explain what you want to happen or explain the information you have.
Example:
“Ted McCracken and Bob Smiley have delivered these
shipments to our loading dock supervisor. I have
attached copies of logs for your review. Note that the unloading time is approximately half of that from other shippers for a similar load. Ted and Bob frequently help our crew unload the crates. This additional service
+
Style conti’d
Part 3: Request a dated action, conclude or thank the reader for his response.
Example:
“Doing business with your organization is a pleasure.
+
Seven C’s Efective Business
Letter
Conversational
For example:
Due to the fact that= stilted phrase
because = conversational
Aforementioned information = stilted phrase
The information or the previous information=
+
Seven C’s conti’d
Clear.
Use specifc examples the reader can relate to.
Don’t assume that your reader understands the jargon
of your trade.
Organizing your letter so each paragraph deals with
+
Seven C’s conti’d
Concise.
It is better to write a short letter with attachments than
a long, detailed one.
Complete.
For example, don’t say, “When we last spoke about the
+
Seven C’s conti’d
Concrete.
Say, “The order for 10,000 basins that we requested on
May 3, 20XX, has not arrived as of June 20.” Identify names and numbers.
Constructive
Words such as “failure,” “you neglected” and
+
Seven C’s conti’d
Correct.
Proofreading the spelling, grammatical and
+
Part of Business Letters
1. Letterhead or Heading
2. Date
3. File Number (optional)
4. Confdential (optional)
5. Inside Address
6. Attention Line (optional)
7. Salutation (optional)
8. Subject Line (optional)
9. Body of the Letter
10. Complimentary Close (optional)
11. Signature
12. Additional Information
13. Postscript
+
Letterhead
+
Date
When you are using a heading instead of
letterhead, place the date on the frst line and
the address on the subsequent lines as follow:
September 9, 2xxx
359 Longview Road
+
Inside Address
This should include the name of the person you are writing
to, the person’s title (if available), the name of the frm and the frm’s address as follows:
Terry Lancaster
Head of Warehouse
Terrance Trucking
P.O. Box 4440
+
Attention Line
When you do not know the name of the person you are writing to and the letter is addressed to the frm. For example, the attention line may say, “ Attention: Head of Accounting.”
When you know the name of the person you are writing to but are unsure of the title. The attention line may
say,” Attention: Customer Service.”
Another way of doing this is to use the attention line and send copies of the letter to the appropriate
+
Salutation
The following are salutations used in American business letters.
Dear Sir
Dear Madam (May be followed by title, such as Dear Madam Chairperson.)
Gentlemen
Ladies
Dear Mr. Bryan
Ladies and Gentlemen ( female and male organization Dear Personal Director ( a gender-free-title)
To Whom It May Concern or TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (use this form as the last resort). Dear Terry Lucas (when you do not know the gender)
Shipping Agents, not “Gentlemen” (if you are addressing a group of people in general, such
as shipping department, do not assume they are all male.)
Friends: (to avoid sexiest and strike a less formal note) Dear IBM: (informal approach)
Madam: Sir: Friend: (if do not have a name)
Dear Ms.White ( in doubt about how a woman prefers to be addressed)
Dear Messrs. White, Brown, and Jones (Messieurs) to address more than one man in the
+
Subject Line
The subject line is most commonly used in Simplifed Letter. It announces the subject of the letter and
+
The Body of the Letter
This is where make requests, provide information or reasons, or reply to someone. It
is the main part of the business letter.
Part 1 of the Body: Get right to the point in the frst sentence of the letter by giving a
statement of your purpose. This part is usually a short paragraph.
Part 2 of the Body: It explains the information you are giving, or it explains what you
want the recipient to do. It includes all of the information the recipient needs.
Part 3 of the Body: This like the frst part, is usually a short paragraph. Depending on
the purpose of your letter, it will do one of three things:
1. Conclude. It allows you to point out the most important item or draw all your key
points into one statement.
2. Request action. In letters that require a response, such as collection letters, you
defne the action you want the recipient to take. In this part, you tell reader what to do and when to do it. Be specifc.
3. Thank the reader. In some letters, this part is simply a thank you for the
+
Complimentary Close
The following complimentary closes are in order of decreasing
formality:
Very truly yours, (formal traditional)
Respectfully, (formal traditional)
Sincerely yours, (informal and personal)
Cordially, (informal and personal)
Sincerely, (informal,personal and more common)
Best regards, (informal personalized)
With love, (personal and warm)
+
SIGNATURE
There should be four lines between the complimentary close (or the body in the Simplifed Letter) and your typed name so there is room for your signature.
+
Additional Information
Reference Initial: use capital letters and followed by colon for sender’s initial, followed by the typist’s initial in small letters.
Enclosure (Enc):The enclosure line at the bottom of the letter notes that additional material has been sent.
+
POSTSCRIPT
The “P.S.” highlights additional information. Often used in sales, promotional or personal letters. It can
+
Mailing Instructions
+
On-Arrival Notations (Envelope)
You might want to include a special notation on private
correspondence. This is also typed in all uppercase characters. Others prefer to put it between the inside address and the
salutation. Remember to put it on the envelope as well, which is probably even more important. Examples of private
+
Business Letter Format
Block or Full block
Modifed Block
Modifed Semi-Block
Simplifed
+
Block Format
Block
+
Modifed Block
It is similar to Block format, but the date, signature
+
Modifed Semi Block
+
Simplifed Format
This is useful when you do not know the title of the
person you are writing to or when you are writing to a
company, government agency or organization. It
+
Memo
It is used as an interofce communication. The top of the Memo indicates :
the date,
the name(s) of the recipient(s), the name(s) of the sender(s) the subject.
The abbreviation “RE” is sometimes used instead of “Subject.” This information is placed at the left margin.
The body of the Memo is in Block form.
A signature and additional information are optional. The signature is often
+
+
+
+
Letter of Introduction
This letter introduces a person to a company or individual. Letters of introduction are similar to
