Probably everyone at least once in life has been faced with the fact that there was an urgent need to write a business letter to the head of a commercial company, a partner, an official or at worst to the Housing Department. But if you consider yourself a businessman, even a beginner or are going to open a business, even in the distant future, you must learn how to write business letters.
So what is the difference between a simple letter and a business letter?
First of all, the absence of emotional components, and the predominance of logic and pragmatic, rational statement of your request or offer. A businessman, an owner of a company or a manager of a large or even not very large enterprise, unlike a simple "consumer", is unlikely to be interested in your emotional and inspired letter to him with a request for collaboration, assistance or any other friendship.
First of all, you must understand that when you write a Business Letter, you write it for business! Many people will now say to themselves, what a "pun", it is clear that the Business Letter differs from the rest with a clear understanding of: "To whom," "Why," and "Why." I have read quite a few letters and proposals, and, unfortunately, in some letters the meaning constantly slipped away, and at the end of the letter it was not at all clear what the author wanted to ask or offer.
So, for the meaning and idea of the letter not to "go down the drain", you have to answer the following questions for yourself:
1. Whom are you writing the letter to, isn't it the wrong addressee?
2. Why are you writing the letter, what do you want to offer or ask for? Are your arguments clear and convincing to the addressee? And what benefit will he receive from cooperating with you?
3. Why are you doing this? What result do you want to get? What further actions do you intend to "provoke" the Addressee into doing?
The corresponding GOST R 6.30-2003, which describes the basic requirements for the content and execution of documents, has been developed for business letters. You can read this GOST in more detail, buying it in a business bookstore, and use it further in the design of your paperwork.
But I would like to pay special attention to some important points:
The header of the business letter should contain the address to the addressee. It is executed a bit below the registration number: in the upper right corner you should specify the position and full name of the addressee. The subject of the letter can be specified below. Still below, in the center, you will write your Address. You should use common words to express your respect in your Address: "Dear", "Sir", "Madam" (abbreviations are not allowed). The title is usually in bold type.
For example:
Ex. No. 01 of 20.04.2012
To In. No.01 - RIC of 01.01.1930
To the director
Director of "Horns and Spurs" Ltd.
Bender O.I.
"About a party of defective horns,
delivered on 01.01.1930".
Dear Ostap Ibragimovich,
2. Introduction. In the introduction you need to briefly define the essence of the letter. You can start traditionally: "I bring to your attention...", "I ask you...", "At this time...", etc. - if the letter is written from the first person.
If the address comes from a legal entity, the narrative is in the third person (For example, "Our company offers...").
And, both in the introduction and in the following text of the letter the pronoun you and all its forms (you, you, your) should be written with a capital letter.
3. In the conclusion of the letter you summarize what is written, often write a request or suggestion. For example: "Taking into consideration the above mentioned, I ask you to...".
The main text of a business letter traditionally ends with the phrase: "Regards,...". - if a neutral address is intended. If, you are personally acquainted with the Addressee, you can end the letter with the phrase - "Sincerely yours,...".
For example:
Sincerely yours,
Underground Millionaire (signature) A.I. Koreiko
Position, full name. (First name and patronymic are printed first, then the last name), the signature is handwritten.
5. The business letter ends with information about the sender, which should contain his full name. (preferably in full) position, and contact telephone number. This is necessary if the addressee or his representative will need to contact for additional information. You can also specify the person responsible (full name), and his or her contact phone number. Oh, by the way, do not forget to include a phone number and area code. Do not make the addressee spend time looking for this information.
I also want to draw your attention to some points about the wording of the letter itself. I used different variants of the letter's wording up to NLP, but it gave little practical use, because the style of business letter is very conservative and the letters which do not correspond to this style just did not go further than "customs control", represented by the company's secretary. Therefore, I abandoned my experiments and started to write in the way the business style requires.
Remember, your letter should have three main sections: the introduction, the argumentation and the conclusion. Many letter writers get straight to the point without introducing the point to the interlocutor. Of course, if the letter is long enough, the businessman may not read the introduction but go straight to the point. But he can also go back to the beginning of the letter if the "gist" interests him. In the conclusion you need to write what you want to get. The letter should not contain any double interpretations, only one clear idea through your entire letter. To do this, it would be good to remember Aristotle, who 300 years BC, considered the logic of statements and formulated the laws of logic based on it:
1. The law of identity - a concept must be used in the same meaning in the course of reasoning;
2. The law of contradiction - "do not contradict yourself."
3. The law of the excluded third - "A" or "not-A" is true, no third is given".
According to the rules of writing, the main part of the business letter should logically consistently reveal the content of the request or proposal, making it understandable to the Addressee. All of the previous paragraphs should logically flow into the following. Provide, if necessary, specific facts, figures. And do not forget that "brevity is the sister of talent. Remember that too long a text can "tire" the Addressee, it can put your letter aside, and not know what the point of your unique offer.
And only after you consider that your letter is finally written, be sure to check it for spelling and punctuation errors. Check again its logical sequence and readability of the whole text (it is best to read it aloud).
If you inadvertently or in a hurry make spelling mistakes, it will be an embarrassment. How can you "do business" with a company that distributes letters with mistakes? Be vigilant!
In conclusion, I would like to say that your letter will also be greeted first by its "clothes", you should pay special attention to the quality of paper, which is printed on the letter, to the design, whether the letter will not lose its shape during transportation, whether they will want to pick it up. If all is well, a neat, logically consistent, revealing the essence, competently written business letter, will incline the Addressee to a positive decision in your favor. Write letters!
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