BUSINESS WRITING TIPS AND TRICKS: - PART 1 of 5
Part 1: "Business Letters Explained"
This Free mini-course is sponsored by:
http://instantbusinessletterkit.com
===============================================================
Hi Affiliate,
Information about how to write business letters is among the
most sought-after by visitors to my two popular writing help
Web sites: writinghelp-central.com and writinghelptools.com.
The strange thing about this is that, when most people are
pressed about it, they only have a vague idea as to exactly
what constitutes a true business letter.
It seems that the term "business letter" is a kind of catch-all
phrase that many people use to define just about any kind of
letter. Indeed, if you go down to your local bookstore and
check out some of the many "how-to" reference guides on
writing "business letters", this confusion becomes apparent.
Often, these guides include just about every type of letter
imaginable all mixed in together and loosely labeled as
"business" letters. In these cases, the publisher probably
told them that the term "business letters" would sell better
than "general letters". Unfortunately, such guides lack focus
and are often misleading and confusing.
BUSINESS LETTERS EXPLAINED
Despite the widespread use of e-mail in commerce today,
traditional business letters are still the main way that the
majority of businesses officially communicate with their
customers and other businesses.
This is especially true when businesses want to formalize an
agreement or an understanding. E-mails are great for all of
the preparatory work, but a formal business letter is still
most often needed to "seal the deal".
There are two basic categories of business letters...
business-to-business, and business-to-customer.
Business-to-Business Letters
Most business-to-business letters are written to confirm
things that have already been discussed among officials
in meetings, on the telephone, or via e-mail.
Can you imagine the letters that would have to go back
and forth to cover all of the questions and possibilities
that can be covered in a one-hour meeting, a half-hour
phone call, or a few quick e-mails?
The main purpose of a typical business letter is to
formalize the details that were arrived at in those
discussions and communications, and to provide any
additional information that was agreed upon.
Typical business-to-business letters include: price
quotations, meeting confirmations, order confirmations,
joint venture proposals, order inquiries, project status
reports, news releases, invitations to participate, etc.
There is also a type of internal business letter that is
known as a "business memorandum". Business memoranda are
used almost exclusively for formal correspondence within
a company or organization.
Business-to-Customer Letters
There are many different types of business-to-customer
letters. The typical "customer" is defined here as an
individual "consumer". Of course, technically, other
businesses can also be "customers" at some point.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of day-to-day business
letters are sent to regular, everyday members of the general
public who purchase products and services from the companies
that send them the letters.
Typical business-to-customer business letters include: sales
and marketing letters, information letters, order
acknowledgement letters, order status letters, collection
letters, credit status letters, response to complaint
letters, service follow-up letters, announcement letters,
among others.
Of course, flowing in the other direction are customer-to-
business letters. These include such correspondence as:
order letters, order status inquiry letters, requests for
information, complaint letters, and others.
Letters That Are NOT Business Letters
In an effort to be absolutely clear here, I'm going to tell
you the specific types of letters that frequently get grouped
into the catch-all "business letters" category, but are not
really business letters. This group usually involves
employment-related letters such as: recommendation letters,
reference letters, resume cover letters, interview thank you
letters, job application letters, application follow-up
letters, job acceptance letters, among others.
In addition, there are a number of other letter types that
can be either business or personal, depending on the situation,
but they often get thrown exclusively into the business letter
category in many reference texts. These include: thank you
letters, appreciation letters, complaint letters, cover
letters, introduction letters, apology letters, condolence
letters, request for information letters, among others.
Any one of these letters can be either business or personal,
depending on the situation.
Bottom Line:
There is no ONE "business letter". There are many.
AND, not every letter is a business letter.
So, it almost always depends on the specific context as to
whether a letter is truly a business letter, or an employment
letter, or a personal letter, or whatever type of letter.
Affiliate, to get a better idea of your own knowledge
level when it comes to out business letters why not take my
45-second business letter quiz at the following link:
http://www.instantbusinessletterkit.com/quizpage.html
Well, that's it for Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 to arrive
in your inbox on Jul. 7, 2008.
Until then,
Shaun Fawcett, M.B.A.
================================================================
Copyright (c) 2005, Shaun R. Fawcett, All Rights Reserved.
mailto:shaun@writinghelptools.com
http://www.WritingHelpTools.com
http://www.WritingHelp-Central.com
http://www.InstantBusinessLetterKit.com
================================================================
Final Draft!, 5-1501 Notre-Dame W., Montreal, QC H3C 1L2, CANADA
To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit:
http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TMysDCxstCyM7BxMTJxstGa0zKzs7Ew=
No comments:
Post a Comment