1. Business Letters
The lost art

2. Types of Letters Personal Letter Personal Business Letter
Sent from one friend or relative to another
Personal Business Letter
Sent by an individual to a company or business
Business Letter
Sent from one company to another
Sent from a company to an individual

3. Personal Business Personal Business Business Individual Individual

4. Why Compose a well-crafted business letter?
More communication takes place by fax, voice mail and
Do not get caught up in new technology thinking it’s the only way to get the message across
One group of people who are still impressed when they receive a well written letter in the ordinary mail – Prospective Clients and Customers
In the fast-paced times, it can be a refreshing change to receive real mail

5. Why Compose a well-crafted business letter? - continued
The “look and feel” of a business letter immediately gives the reader their first impression
Quality of paper
Letterhead design
Margins
Spacing
Content

6. When should business letter be used?
When making the first contact with a prospect
Introducing yourself in a written format
Sent for business purposes
Matters that require business-like approach
Letter should
Have proper content
Be easy to understand
Be visually pleasing

7. “Look and Feel” Tips Use good quality 8½” by 11” paper
Use 1” margins on all four sides
Use a serif font
Times Roman (12 point)
Georgia (11 point)
Use single-space, typed
Try to keep your letter to one page
Print letter on only one side of the paper
Fold the letter horizontally into thirds

8. Business Letter styles
Full block
Type every line flush with the left margin
Indented
Indent return address, closing and your typed name to center of the page
Indent each paragraph
Also known as “Semi-block style” and “Modified block style”

9. Full Block Style

10. Indented style

11. Components of a business Letter
Letterhead or Return Address
Date
Reference Line
Inside Address
Salutation
Body
Complimentary Closing
Writer’s Identification
Identification Initials
Enclosure Notation

12. Letterhead Used in business letters only Introduce your company
Powerful means of portraying the image of your company
Modern
Conservative
Distinguished
Includes contact information (name, address, city, province, postal code, telephone, fax, )

13. Letterhead

14. The Return address Used for personal business or personal letters only
Provides the address, city and province, and postal code of the writer
May include address

15. Date Usually entered on Use traditional alphanumerical method
Line 15 for a business letter
Line 12 for personal and personal business letters
Use traditional alphanumerical method
July 1, 1867
15 January 2008

16. Reference line
Includes information specifically requested such as job reference, invoice number
Re: Job #
Re invoice No:
One or two lines immediately below date

17. The inside address Used in business or personal business letter
Address of person or company to whom the letter is addressed
Must include: name of person or company, address, city, province and postal code
May include the person’s title or department if known
Dr. Calvin Carson Cross Country Coach Dept. of Athletics Colorado Community College at Cripple Creek Cripple Creek CO 80678

18. Salutation
Always placed at the left margin double space below the inside address
Includes greeting (ex. Dear ...)
Followed by a colon
If you don’t know the recipient, use only title and surname
Mr. or Mrs. or Ms [Last Name]
If you know the recipient by first name, you may only the first name
Other salutations include
Ladies:, Gentlemen:, Dear Sir or Madam:, To Whom it May Concern:

19. Body Begins a double space below the salutation Single space the body
Use double space between paragraphs
Two spaces between sentences
Brief and to the point
Business people are busy and do not have time to read long letters

20. Complimentary closing
Double spaced below the last line of the body
Depends on the tone and degree of formality
Respectfully yours, (very formal)
Sincerely yours, (typical, less formal)
Very truly yours, (polite, neutral)
Cordially yours, (friendly, informal)
Only the first word is capitalized
Followed by a comma

21. Writer’s identification
Placed five lines below the complimentary closing
Leave blank lines to sign your name
Writer’s name, title or department
In business letter and personal letter, always have a handwritten signature and a printed signature

22. Writer’s identification examples
Sincerely, J. Doe John Doe, Manager
Yours truly,
PatSmith
P. Smith
Director, Technical Support

23. Identification Initials
Used if someone typed the letter for you
Placed two lines below the writer’s identification
Your initials are all in uppercase, then the initials of the person who typed the letter in lowercase
JAD/cm
JAD:cm cm
/cm
:cm

24. Enclosure Tells the reader to look in the envelope for more
Singular for only one enclosure, plural for more
If you don’t enclose anything, skip it
Examples:
Enclosure
Encl.
Enclosures: 3
Enclosures (3)

25. cc Stands for courtesy copies (formally carbon copies)
List the names of people to whom you distribute copies, in alphabetical order
If you don’t copy your letter to anyone, skip it

26. Business Letter Considerations

27. Reader considerations
Consider your reader
What essential information do they need
What are their expectations
Have you addressed all the issues
Be responsive
Address the inquiry or problem
Be personal
Letters are written by people to people
Avoid “To whom it may concern” if possible
Use a template version of a letter with caution
Not too informal – avoid slang

28. Be concise and to the point
Use as little words as possible to explain your position
Use clear and easy to understand language
Minimize misunderstandings
Think before you write
List out the topics you want to cover
For each topic, list keywords, examples, arguments and facts
Review each topic for relevance
Cut out anything that is not relevant
Sort the information

29. Emphasize the positive
Talk about what you can, not what you can’t
Example:
Product is out of stock. Don’t tell the customer you can’t fill the order. Tell them the product is very popular and is sold out. Tell them when you can get the order to them.
Don’t use negative words

30. Language and spelling Don’t use cold, formal language or ‘big words’
Double check the spelling of the last name
Take the time to learn the right “preferred” or “known as” name
Ensure you are 100% correct in spelling throughout the letter

31. Two-Point Punctuation
No punctuation at the ends of the lines of the parts
Exceptions
Abbreviations (ex. Rd.)
Sentences in the body
Use a colon after salutation
Use a comma after the complimentary closing