BUSINESS WRITING TIPS AND TRICKS: - PART 3 of 5
Part 3: "Essential Business Letter Strategies"
This Free mini-course is sponsored by:
http://instantbusinessletterkit.com
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Hello Affiliate,
Here's your third installment of the mini-course "Business
Writing Tips and Tricks".
Did I mention earlier that, out of all of the people who visit
my two main writing help Web sites, over 60% of those visitors
are seeking some sort of letter writing information or
assistance? And, about 80% of that group is looking for help
with some type of business letter.
7 KEY BUSINESS LETTER STRATEGIES
Here are what I consider to be the 7 most important
"strategies" to keep in mind when composing your business
letters.
1. Keep It Short And To The Point
Business letters should be concise, factual, and focused.
Try to never exceed one page or you will be at risk of
losing your reader. A typical letter page will hold 350 to
450 words. If you can't get your point across with that many
words you probably haven't done enough preparatory work.
If necessary, call the recipient on the phone to clarify
any fuzzy points and then use the letter just to summarize
the overall situation.
2. Make It Clear, Concise, And Logical
Before sitting down to write, make a brief point-form
outline of the matters you need to cover in the letter.
Organize those points into a logical progression that you
can use as your guide as you write the letter. The logical
blocks of the letter should be: 1. introduction/purpose,
2. background/explanation, 3. summary/conclusion, 4. action
required statement. Use this outline process to organize your
approach and your thoughts, and to eliminate any unnecessary
repetition or redundancy.
3. Focus On The Recipient's Needs
While writing the letter, focus on the information
requirements of your audience, the intended addressee. If
you can, in your "mind's eye", imagine the intended
recipient seated across a desk or boardroom table from you
while you are explaining the subject of the letter. What
essential information does that person need to know through
this communication? What will be their expectations when
they open the letter? Have you addressed all these issues?
4. Use Simple and Appropriate Language
Your letter should use simple straightforward language, for
clarity and precision. Use short sentences and don't let
paragraphs exceed three or four sentences. As much as
possible, use language and terminology familiar to the
intended recipient. Do not use technical terms and acronyms
without explaining them, unless you are certain that the
addressee is familiar with them.
5. Use Short Sentences and Paragraphs
Keep your sentences as short as possible, and break the
text up into brief paragraphs. Ideally, a paragraph should
not exceed two to three sentences. This will make the
letter more easily readable, which will entice the recipient
to read it sooner, rather than later.
6. Review and Revise It
Do a first draft, and then carefully review and revise it.
Put yourself in the place of the addressee. Imagine yourself
receiving the letter. How would you react to it? Would it
answer all of your questions? Does it deal with all of the
key issues? Are the language and tone appropriate? Sometimes
reading it out loud to one's self can help. When you
actually "hear" the words it is easy to tell if it "sounds"
right or not.
7. Double Check Spelling and Grammar
A letter is a direct reflection of the person sending it,
and by extension, the organization that person works for.
When the final content of your letter is settled, make sure
that you run it through a spelling and grammar checker. To
send a letter with obvious spelling and grammatical errors
is sloppy and unprofessional. In such cases, the recipient
can't really be blamed for seeing this as an indication as
to how you (and/or your organization) probably do most
other things.
The foregoing basic business letter writing strategies are
mostly common sense. Nevertheless, you would be amazed how
often these very basic "rules of thumb" are not employed
when people write letters.
Well Affiliate, that's it for Part 3. Part 4 should
arrive in your inbox Jul. 12, 2008.
All the best,
Shaun Fawcett, M.B.A.
P.S.
Here's what a prominent online business person had to say
about "Instant Business Letter Kit"...
"Shaun, I am very impressed. I've always found writing business
letters a real chore, something I enjoyed doing about as much
as having teeth pulled. However, by using the templates in your
Instant Business Letter Kit even I can produce a professional
business letter easily and in very little time...and time IS
money. In fact, I saved enough time during the first letter
to cover the cost of the kit. That's excellent value. Good
work and thanks again!"
--- Rosalind Gardner, CEO, WebVista Inc.
http://RosalindGardner.com
Instant Business Letter Kit contains over 100 real-life letter
templates and includes a special Bonus Book called "Business
Forms and Templates". That Bonus Book covers everything from
invoices and order forms to writing minutes of meetings.
http://instantBusinessLetterkit.com
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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
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