Some skills of business letter writing.docx

Some skills of business letter writing.docx

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Someskillsofbusinessletterwriting

TheSevenCsofBusinessLetterWriting

Effectiveletterwritingboilsdowntoknowingwhyyouarewritingaletter,understandingyourreader'sneedsandthenclearlywritingwhatyouneedtosay.Everylettershouldbeclear,human,helpfulandasfriendlyasthetopicallows.Thebestlettershaveaconversationaltoneandreadasifyouweretalkingtoyourreader.Inbriefthen,discovertheSeven-Csofletterwriting.Youshouldbe

Clear

Concise

Correct

Courteous

Conversational

Convincing

Complete

Whenyouwritealetter,youaretryingtoconvincesomeonetoactorreactinapositiveway.Yourreaderwillrespondquicklyonlyifyourmeaningiscrystalclear.

Putyourselfinthereader’sshoesandwriteinafriendlyandhelpfultone.Don'trepresentyourcompanyasonethatcannotmakeamistakeandmustalwaysbeintheright.Trynottoreplyinthenormalblandanddefensivewayoforganizations—writeasincereandhelpfulletter.

Showyouareinterestedinthereader’scircumstances.Ifheorshehasmentionedsomethingpersonalintheletter,refertoitinyourreply.Thisbuildsabridgebetweenyouandthereader.Readtheoriginallettercarefullyandseeifthereissomethingyoucanputinyourlettertoshowyourinterest.

Puttingyourreaderfirst

Forallwritersthemostimportantpeoplearetheirreaders.Ifyoukeepyourreadersinmindwhenyouwrite,itwillhelpyouusetherighttone,appropriatelanguageandincludetherightamountofdetail.

Whatdoreaderswantfromwriting?

Theywantrelevantinformation,presentedinaclear,easy-to-understandstyle.Theydon'twantmuddledthinking,backgroundinformationtheyalreadyknow,business-speakandjargonorwaffle.Aboveall,theywanttogetthegistofyourmessageinonereading—theydon’twanttodigforthemeaningthroughlongsentencesandaboringstyle.Soifyoualwayskeepyourreadersinmind,youwillhavetoadaptyourstyleandcontenttomeettheirneeds.

Gettingaclearpictureofyourreadersbeforeyoustarttowritehelpstofocusyourwritingtogetyourmessageacross.Thebetterpictureyouhaveofyourreaders,thebetteryoucandirectyourwriting.

Askquestionstogetaclearpictureofyourreaders.

Whoaremyreaders?

Whatdotheyalreadyknowaboutthesubject?

Whatdotheyneedtoknow?

Willtheyunderstandtechnicalterms?

Whatinformationdotheywant?

WhatdoIwantthemtodo?

Whatinterestsormotivatesthem?

Whatprejudicesdotheyhave?

Whatworriesorreassuresthem?

Whatwillpersuadethemtomyview?

WhatotherargumentsdoIneedtopresent?

HowaretheylikelytoreacttowhatIsay?

Ifyouimagineyourselfinyourreader'sposition,you'remorelikelytowriteagoodletter.

Keepingyourbusinessplantothepoint

Whenyouwriteabusinessletter,youmusttrynottowasteyourreader'stime.Thefirststepinanywritingtaskistosetdownyouraim.Askyourself,WhyamIwriting?

andWhatdoIwanttoachieve?

Thecleareryouareinyourownmindaboutwhatyouwanttoachieve,thebetteryourletter.Thesequestionshelpyoufocusontheinformationthatsupportsyourcentralaim,andtocutinformationthat'sirrelevant.Bydoingthis,you'llfindyoukeeptothesubjectandperhapswriteadocumentthatisathirdshorterthanyouwouldotherwisedraft.

Peoplereadtofindoutinformation.Youcanwritetheclearestletterorreport,butifitdoesn'tsayanythingworthknowing,it'sauselessdocument.Youhavetolearntopresentthemostrelevantinformationforyourreaders'needs.Thenhavingsaidwhatyouneedtosay—stop.

Themorespecificinformationyougive,thebetter.Youneedtoberuthlessincuttingoutthepaddingmostofusputintoletters.Itjustwastesreaders'timeandcloudsyourmessage.

Tohelpyoutokeeptothepointofyourletter,youcandrawupanoutlinetoplanyourletter.Followthesesteps:

Makealistofthetopicsyouwanttocoverbutdon'tworryabouttheorder.

Undereachtopic,listkeywords,examples,argumentsandfacts.

Revieweachtopicinyouroutlineforrelevancetoyouraimandaudience.

Cutoutanythingthat'snotrelevanttoyouraimoraudience.

Sorttheinformationintothebestorderforyourreaders.

Youdon’thavetostickrigidlytoyourbusinessletterplanasitmaychangeifyoudiscovernewinformation.Itshouldhelpyoushapeyourthinkingbutnotbeastraitjacket.Letyouroutlinefocusyourthinkingtomakeyourwritingcoherent.

Theadvantageofspendingalittletimesettingoutaplanisthatitnotonlyhelpsthereader,italsohelpsyouwrite.Bybreakingdownacomplextopicintosubjectareas,you'llfinditeasiertoconcentrateonthemostrelevantinformation.

Gettingtherighttonetoyourbusinessletter

Whenyouwriteabusinessletter,it’simportanttouseatonethatisfriendlybutefficient.Readerswanttoknowthere’ssomeoneattheotherendoftheletterwhoistakingnoticeandshowinginterestintheirconcerns.Trytosound—andbe—helpfulandfriendly.

Todothis,writeasyouwouldspeakandtalkonpaper.Thisdoesn'tmeanyoushoulduseslang,badgrammarorpoorEnglish,buttrytoaimforaconversationalstyleandletthereaderhearyourvoice.

Imaginethatyourreaderissittingoppositeyouatyourdeskorisonthetelephone.You’dbeunlikelytosay“pleasebeadvised”or“Iwishtoinformyou”;insteadyou’dbemoreinformalandsay,“I’dliketoexplain”or“Letmeexplain”oruseothereverydayexpressions.

Herearesomewaystochangeyourwritingstyletoaconversationalstyle.

UseContractions

Usingcontractionssuchasit's,doesn't,I'm,you're,we're,they're,isn't,here's,that's,we'llgivesapersonalandhumanfeeltoyourwriting.

Iftherearenocontractionsinyourwriting,putsomein.Youdon'thavetousecontractionsateveryopportunity.Sometimeswritingdonotcomesmorenaturallythandon't.Whenyouspeak,youprobablyuseacombinationofthesestyles—trytoreflectthisinyourwriting.

UsePersonalReferences

UsewordssuchasI,we,you,your,my,andourinyourwriting.Don'tbeafraidtoidentifyyourself—itmakeswritingmuchmorereadable.Thisisausefultricktomakewritinglookandsoundmorelikeface-to-facetalk.

UsingI,weandyoualsohelpsyoutoavoidusingpassiveverbs.Itmakesyourstylemoredirectandclear.

Soinsteadofwriting:

Ouraddressrecordshavebeenamended...

write

We’vechangedyouraddressinourrecords...

Insteadofwriting:

Thecompanypolicyis...

write

Ourpolicyis...

Usingactiveverbswithpersonalreferencesisaquickanddramaticwaytomakeyourwritingreadableandmoredirect.

UseDirectQuestions

Directquestionsareanessentialpartofthespokenlanguage.Usingthemgivesyourwritingmuchmoreimpactandisacommontechniqueinmarketingandadvertisingmaterial.Marketingpeopleusethistechniquetoputinformationacrossclearlyandtogivetheirwritingimpact.

Inmuchbusinesswriting,wehidequestionsinourwritingbyusingwordssuchaswhethertointroducethem.Lookfortheseinyourwritingandchangethemintodirectquestions.Forexample:

Original:

Wewouldappreciateyouradvisinguswhetheryouwanttocontinuethisaccountortransferit.

Redraft:

Doyouwanttocontinueyouraccountortransferit?

Original:

Pleaseinformuswhetherpaymentagainstthesereceiptswillbeinorder.

Redraft:

Canwepayagainstthesereceipts?

Apartfrommakingyourstylemoreconversational,directquestionslivenupyourwriting—it’sasthoughyouchangethepitchinyourvoice.There’snothinglikeadirectquestiontogetsomereactionfromyourreaderandtogiveyourwritingimpact.

WritingyourbusinessplaninplainEnglish

Goodwritingiseffortlessreadingthatmakesyouwanttoreadmore.Itisclearandconcise,usesshortsentencesandsimplewords.Itkeepstothefactsandiseasytoreadandtounderstand.

PlainEnglishisclearEnglish.Itissimpleanddirectbutnotsimplisticorpatronising.UsingplainEnglishdoesn’tmeaneveryone'swritingmustsoundthesame.Thereisnoone‘right’waytoexpressanidea.There'splentyofroomforyourownstyle—butitwillonlyblossomonceyouhavegotridofthepoorwritinghabitsthataretypicalofmostbusinesswriting.

HerearesomeofthekeytechniquestohelpyouwriteinplainEnglish:

Useactiveverbsratherthanpassiveverbs

Usingactiveverbsratherthanpassiveverbsisthekeytogoodwriting.Why?

Becausepassiveverbsarelongwinded,ambiguous,impersonalanddull.Activeverbsmakeyourwritingsimpler,lessformal,clearerandmoreprecise.Here'sanexample:

Passive:

Itwasagreedbythecommittee...

Active:

Thecommitteeagreed...

Passive:

AtthelastmeetingareportwasmadebytheSecretary...

Active:

AtthelastmeetingtheSecretaryreported...

Passive:

Thisformshouldbesignedandshouldbereturnedtome.

Active:

Youshouldsigntheformandreturnittome.

Inswitchingyourstylefrompassiveverbstoactiveverbsthroughoutyourwriting,youfaceseveralproblems.

Youmustaccuratelyspotthem.Oftenwritersmisspassiveverbsortrytochangeverbsthatarealreadyactive.

Youneedtomeasureyouruseofpassiveverbs.Oneortwopassiveverbsapagewillnotruinyourstyle,nineortenwill.

Youneedtoknowhowtoturnpassiveverbstoactiveverbs.

UseStyleWritertospotandmeasurepassiveverbsaccurately.

Keepyoursentenceaveragelengthlow

Sentencelengthiscrucialtogoodwriting.Almosteverythingwrittenbygoodwritershasanaveragesentencelengthofbetween15and20words.Thisdoesn’tmeanwritingeverysen