It is important to acquire the skills to write good business correspondence; a job applicant must submit personalized job application letters. A secretary must send an official invitation letter. A purchasing assistant may need to prepare an invoice. It does not necessarily imply that you must have a good level of English. You must remember that correspondence means communicating a message. It is a two-way effort between the writer and the receiver.
Here are some tips:
The impression
The quality of your print reflects the stature of your own company. Make sure your printer has a suitable ink cartridge and that the print is consistent. Do not set the printer to “quick draft” as the quality is not up to standard and may not be easy for the receiver to read.
Write to the point
The structure of business correspondence must always be precise and not open to various interpretations. Your writing should not be repetitive and a business letter should preferably be one page long. If your recipient does not have any background information, you should include an attachment with the cover letter.
The title of business correspondence
The title of your business correspondence should preferably be a long line and not be too large in font. If the title is unclear, your letter can be placed under your recipient’s KIV tray. There are many top executives who empower their personal assistants to tidy up their corporate mail.
Short sentences Your sentences should not be too long. They should be consistent with the subject of the correspondence and you should avoid jargon or quotes.
Look at your score
Scoring rules must be followed. With the popularity of office software tools, presentation bullets are used indiscriminately in all business correspondence. Use this tool appropriately and keep the official nature of your writing.
Receiver data
It will reflect badly on your professionalism if you make a mistake in the name or designation of your recipient. It implies that you do not consider business correspondence important.
Your contact
You should leave your direct contact number or even an email address if you need an urgent reply from the recipient. With the improvement in telecommunications, the message is expected to get through in the fastest way. It is not a good idea to leave your corporate number with a voicemail.
Remember to check
It is a good habit to check your writing; don’t just rely on the spelling or grammar checker to get the job done. By way of illustration, after carefully reading your company’s wording, you may find that your wording is too informal for the situation.
Fax cover letter
If you are sending a fax, you should remember to include a cover letter to accompany the rest of the correspondence. This is to ensure that your recipient gets all of your correspondence.
Your signature
You must remember to sign your business correspondence, when necessary.
