How to Write Business Letters That Get Results

By Maureen Cutajar

Business letters can have a number of different purposes. Business letters can be written to request information, to inform, to instruct, or as an attempt to influence the reader.

- Letters of enquiries are written to request information or to enquire about services offered. The latter encompasses requests for goods or services, hotel reservations and so on.

- Letters of information are often written in response to a letter of enquire and thus server to provide information or as a confirmation of arrangements that were previously made via a different medium such as the telephone.

- Letters of instruction provide instructions or a set of procedures to the reader. Such letters rely on simple and accurate language to ensure that the instructions are clear to the reader.

- In an organization several letters are also written to influence the customer. These are often sales letters that are including in the company's marketing strategy. Such letters aim to produce effective marketing communications with the aim to influence the readers to spend their money on the advertised products. Other letters written with the aim to influence the reader include letters written to request permission for something, asking for a refund or requesting classified or urgent information amongst others.

Although there are several reasons to write a business letters which demand a particular writing style we can still list a number of pointers which will assist you in your writing skills and helps you to produce an effective business letter that will achieve its defined objective.

1. The Content of the Letter

When writing a letter always keep your recipient in mind since the recipient's level of knowledge on the letter's subjects ultimately dictates the content of your letter. For instance, it beats the scope of writing a letter full of technical jargon when the recipient will not understand its content.

2. The Structure of the Letter

The structure of the letter should keep to the point and be concise. In the introduction you need to state the reason for writing. The body should explain further what was stated in the introduction, while the conclusion of the letter should express clearly what actions or results you are requesting from the recipient of the letter.

Whatever the subject matter or the purpose of writing a letter it is important to always adhere to these simple rules when writing business letters:

- Always keep to the point

- Aim to be concise

- Ensure that the information and the actions requested are clearly explained

- Always be polite.

Maureen Cutajar http://maureencutajar.blogspot.com

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