How To Write A Perfect Business Letter — A Step-by-Step Guide
While most of the business owners possess basic reading & writing skills, they mostly stuck at writing formal business letters, proposals, and applications. If you’re a new business, you absolutely can’t afford to neglect knowing the right techniques for writing a business letter.
What is a business letter?
Despite the widespread prevalence of emails in commerce today, the use of traditional business letters still remains a popular method of correspondence. The majority of businesses and enterprises prefer communicating through well-drafted letters with their clients, associates, and other businesses.
Most commonly, there are two types of business letters –
Business-to-business
Business-to-customer
Business-to-business letters are mostly about confirming or approving things that were previously discussed in a meeting, over a phone call, or via e-mails. The main purpose of these letters is to formalize the details that were already discussed and to provide additional information regarding the things that were agreed upon.
Here are the top 10 business-to-business letter types that most of the businesses need to write:
· Sales letters
· Marketing letters
· Financial letters
· Inquiry letters
· Invitation letters
· Follow-up letters
· Project letters
· Thank you letters
· Acknowledgment letters
· Congratulation letters
Business-to-customer letters can differ depending on the specific purpose of the letter. This includes sales and marketing letters, information letters, order acknowledgment letters, order status letters, collection letters, among others.
Here are the top 10 business-to-customer letter types that most of the businesses need to write:
· Sales letters
· Customer relations letters
· Announcement letters
· Order-status letters
· Financial letters
· Apology letters
· Follow-up letters
· Acknowledgment letters
· Confirmation letters
· Appreciation letters
Step-by-Step Guide to Write a Perfect Business Letter
Ideally, a formal business letter should contain the following eight parts, in order:
Letterhead (the sender’s address)
Current Date
Recipient’s name and address
Subject (optional)
Salutation
Body content
Complimentary close
Signature (with sender’s title/designation)
Steps for writing business letters:-
#1. Business letters ought to be written at the right letterheads which ought to carry the organization’s address and also the title of whoever writes the letter. If not at the letterhead, an A4 white paper is deemed professional.
#2. The business letter should be written in block style using a word processor.
#3. Leave 2 or 3 lines of space after writing the address and then goes the date at the left margin. Always put in the date, as it is important to the history of correspondence on this topic.
#4. Subsequently, type the address of the individual to whom you compose this letter. His/her designation ought to be given to the letter will find a bit of professionalism. It includes first and last name, company name, street address, city, province or state, postal, or zip code. If the person belongs to another country, add the country name in the last line.
#5. Leave two lines gap and write the subject of your letter.
#6. Again leave space of at least 2 lines and begin your letter with the appropriate salutation. If you the recipient well, it is acceptable to address him or her by the first name such as Dear John. Otherwise, write Dear Mr. Taylor or Dear Ms. Cook; when in doubt err on the side of professionalism and use the last name.
#7. In the next step, you’ll be writing the content or the message of the letter. Leave 2 lines space between each paragraph of your content. In short, it should be clear, concise, and error-free.
#8. Leave 2 lines of space after the last line of body content before giving the letter a complimentary close. Use the right kind of leave-taking. Yours truly, yours sincerely, yours kindly would be the popular kinds of leave-taking. Use any of these.
#9. Leave four to six blank lines after the complimentary close for the writer’s handwritten signature. Please bear in mind to include your official trademark (if any) until you set the letter from the postal pay.
#10. Beneath the handwritten signature is the typed name of the writer along with his or her designation.
#11. Utilize a clean and proper envelop to place the letter.
And there you go — send it off.
As you can understand, knowing how to write a business letter is rather simple. If you have any questions in mind, feel free to ask in the comment section.
