A business letter is an ambassador for any organisation. It is often the only direct and individual communication that people have with an organisation. When you write business letters you are responsible for helping to meet your company’s objectives. Business letters should therefore, have very clear purposes: To reflect a good company image, generate goodwill, Retain customers, Give or request information, Create good rapport with the reader.

Business writing legitimately varies from the conversational style you might use in a note sent by e-mail to the formal, official style found in contracts. In most e-mail messages, letters and memos, a style between the two extremes generally is appropriate. Writing that is too formal can alienate readers and an overly obvious attempt to be casual and informal may strike the reader as insincere or unprofessional.

The basics of good business letter writing are easy to learn. So the first thing to ask yourself is ‘what is my reason for writing this document’. One reason people don’t write well is because they don’t allocate enough time to the act of writing. They fail to follow simple guidelines that would make their writing concise, persuasive, correct in tone and inviting to read.

The best writing focuses on key points and eliminates unnecessary words and paragraphs. The key to making writing concise is proofreading and editing. Concise doesn’t mean provide few details, where there is a story to tell, you have to give all the pertinent facts. All documents should use the same basic structure:

• An introduction that explains what you are writing about;

• A clear summary of your recommendations;

• Your supporting points in order of priority; and

• Your recommended next steps.

Each of your paragraphs should start with a topic sentence (i.e. a sentence that communicates the key message of the paragraph). Well written documents have a smooth logic flow from beginning to the end. A document that flows like this usually succeeds in its purpose.

 

Effective writing should always have at its core the act of persuasion. Being persuasive doesn’t require fancy adjectives; instead you simply need to sit down before writing and answer two basic questions:

Why am I writing this document and what are the main points I want people to remember? Literally jot down the answers to these questions and you are ready to write effectively.

It must also take the perspective of the reader. Never use jargon from your industry or your organisation unless you are absolutely certain that your reader will understand these terms. Make sure the tenor of your document is the right pitch. For instance documents written for top management should be more formal, while documents written to motivate a team could be emotional.

Business writing goes beyond the text created; it is structured to maximize understanding and retention. No one will ever read a paragraph over ten lines long, but people often use their longest paragraph to make their key points. So liberate your point by making them the topic sentence of their own paragraph. No one gets a document right the first time.

 

Conclusion:

Someone once asked a question; what’s the fastest way to your bosses’ heart?

WRITE WELL. So your boss does not have to correct your mails, memos and letters before you can send them out. It’s that simple!

The effect only needs to be pleasing. A simple breakdown of the above: The beginning; the subject line; using tone effectively; the body, proofreading And Conclusion.