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