6 Ways to Write Business Letters Abusiness letter is a letter you write to a company or organization. It’s more formal than a personal letter or thank-you note, You usually write a business letter because you want results. You might write a company to ask for a job, request information, make a complaint, or compliment the company. Knowing the basics of writing business letters is one of the most important skills you can learn, Tt will malse your life easier and could help you become more successful. 66 Know how to format a business letter. ‘Whatever your purpose, the basic format of a business letter is the same, Remember, formats aren’t just meaningless rules to learn. A properly formatted letter automatically eds you respect and helps the chances of someone actually reading your message. ‘© Make sure your address is included and is correct. You might even include a telephone number and an e-mail address. © If possible, type or word process a business letter. Typed letters are easier and faster to read than even the neatest handwriting. The person reeding your letter is likely to be very busy. A neatly typed letter will get picked up and read before a handwritten one. # Ifyou must handvrite, don't use spiral notebook paper with a ragged edge = Instead, use stationery or plain 3-hole punched notebook paper. (Lined paper ‘will help your writing stay even and aligned on the page, which will make it more readable.) © Keep a copy of your letter so you can follow up if you don’t hear an answer after a few weeks. aaa gases 302 vackson t¢——-your address wey 1, 1997 fe—date : ‘tee inside address (the person you're writing to) |__ greeting (Begin the letter simply with the ; aa = ce person's name here or a “Dear” before it. If yoia te nats A eg DEE, gh didles Tr'e wiltieg | | don't know the person's neme, the greeting ‘T have purchased several things from should just be “To Whom It May Concern.“ Place a colon after the greeting in & biiginess letter.) is bear Mr, Haley: <—@———— a for my bicycles Poet Team” daleaperson veiled #2 my SEG’ gi Sab bold ub to got ct et the store Btause’ursere taking too mich tine. tn the future; 1d 1ike to\know thet 1'Will be |—body (Notice there is no indenting at: Tae "Eo'thep for whet T tied in your store eginning of peragrapke. In a busin Je eeing eters ae thot Tecan sep eithowe you simply leave a space between & problens from now-on. paragraph.) (Bpee ageln, Me. Maley, T've'elwaya been = Good cussoner in your euove. 1 Aieeppoinved to ke treated go poorly. 7 know wt you don't want xli your custorers to be treatedSEE 6 Ways to Write Business Letters, eontinuéd 67 Introduce yourself. ‘Aletter is a type of conversation, and a business letter is like a conversation with someone you don’t know. The most natural and polite way to begin a conversation is to introduce yourself and tell a little about your background. Here are some examples for three different types of business letters: complaint ter je My name is Chad Juarez. T'm 12 years old and have been in your store Storey many times. soolcasonteuer Tam 14 years old and redfly like spending time with younger kids. “organization i es somazemseit @_Mynname is Blena Popov. Iam 11 years old and have just moved from eis Wiens ‘Europe to Canada with my family. “outiem bares 68 State your purpose clearly. ‘After you've introduced yourself, get right to the meat of your letter. Say clearly and ts specifically, why you're writing this letter. ‘ complaint eter g, Tm writing because I have purchased several things from your store, and wastoreovaes K the other day I had a bad experience there. I planned to buy a water bottle for my bicycle. Before I could pick one out, though, the salesperson yelled at my friend and me and told us to get out of the store because we were wasting too much time. 2 sypeaton ter AV -My teacher suggested I write this letter to tell you Tim interested in ee becoming a member of the Jackson Neighborhood Center Teen Mentor ‘Program. ~ peetegunt ft @ My family is planning to travel to Wisconsin this summer to visit relatives. to the Wiseoata es tauren boreax a 69 Tell What you would like to have happen next. : After ‘Yoiir problem or purpose, begin anew paragraph and ask for a specific action. “Notige how, chrly each person requests to have something happen in each example: ti ‘Tn the future, I'd like'to know that I will be able to shop for what I need in Store without being hassled. I would appreciate it if you could asstire “mie that I can shop without any problems from now on. Se ger eee 125 Ways to Be a Bett WriterJ dadddddddddddddd"“dags a @ : 6 Ways to Write Business Letters, continued semnatios @ Td appreciate it if you could send me some tourist information about your nfomation etter “state, I'm especially interested in the Milwaukee area. fata bureaus ) 10 Restate your purpose before closing. For your letter to have its biggest impact, you should close with a paragraph which repeats your reasons for writing, Most people need to hear or read the same information at least twice before it really sinks in. : Once again, Mi: Haley, Tve always heen a good customer of yotir store, Tt was very disappointing to me that I was treated so poorly. 1 know you don’t want all your customers to be treated like T was. Tiron 7 toyieiog ery As ead before, really ike helping younger Kids in any way Tcan. 1 Took: °Awuinten forward to becoming a part of the program. agua for @ Our family looks forward to visiting Wisconsin, Tl be watching the mail information “for the information. Thanks again. 7 ‘ouriam urea 71 Sound businesslike but be polite. ‘Make your lettor sound conversational, but don't use a lot of slang or informal language. Tis unlikely you'll be treated seriously if you don't sound businesslike. Also, be polite, even if You're making complaint. Few people have ever gotten the results they desired by being rade. Amazing things often happen as the result of well-written business letters. Negative situations are often turned into positive ones because of the way people handle their x complaints in letters. For example, how might the bike shop example turn into a positive —" experience as a result of Chad's letter? % 3 Dox’t try to itpress your reader with a big word when a smaller word will do. ‘Use language and words you're comfortable with. A good rule to follow is to” never use a word until you're absolutely sure of its meaning, and don't uise ‘words in a business letter that you wouldn't use in regular conversation