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Example research essay topic: Secret To Successful Business Letter - 3,210 words

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How to write a successful business letter. Letter-writing is an essential part of business. On the other hand, going to be a graduate of English, I intend to use my English in business. I, therefore, tried to learn to write business letter. Firstly, I found it so easy. One day, i read an article saying that the U.

S. Post Office handles 300 million pieces of mail every day but a two percent response rate is exceptionally high and a manufacturer mailing 1, 000 sales letters expects that fewer than 20 people will respond to the pitch. Then i knew that what I have learnt was just a simple theory. Real success in writing business letter is lying somewhere else. Thus, I started to find that somewhere else. The study to find secrets in writing a good business letter is not only do good for myself, but also for many of my college-mates, who have the same intention as mine.

Thats the motivation that urges me to do this assignment. Choosing this topic, I aim at the following objectives: - To discover what lies under a successful business letter - To find out the way to create an effective letter. - To suggest a good way to succeed in writing business letter. I found that secrets of an effective business letter are plentiful. They lie both in the style and the content of the letter, both abstractly and concretely... Due to the limitation of time; and I know that there have been so many assignments as well as books, articles saying about the form of business letter, therefore, it is referred to a little in this assignment. The focus is on the factors leading to the success of a business letter.

Collecting and extracting articles from guide books and reference books, esp. in the Internet, concerning the studied issue. Letter is a kind of communication through which the writer and the recipient exchange information in the form of paper-writing. In the angle of receiving information, it is different from oral communication in the way that oral communicators receive response immediately; but that to a letter is not known until the answer is received.

In terms of form, a letter is different form the other kinds of composition. It is simpler and more straight-forward. Beside, the feelings of the write are stated freely. Objectives of writing a letter: People write letters anytime they want to exchange or send information to another person. Just a short message or a long confidence to a another one are called letter. Kinds of letters, therefore, plentiful.

Examples are: letter to relatives / friends /lovers, thanksgiving / invitation letter, letter of congratulation, letter of recommendation, business letter, etc. 2. Business letter and business letter writing. Business letters are those used in business. The writers use them to exchange information with the recipients in order to do their business.

Some types of business letters are: Circular letter, letters of complaint, letter of adjustment, letters of application for jobs, etc. A letter in business is what medicine is to a patient. Good letters are ambassadors that traverse every nook and corner of commercial world. They constitute the biggest source of active liaison that is necessary for finding business. A good letter is a master key that opens looked doors. It opens markets, opens the way for your goods and services.

Letter-writing is an essential part of business. A well crafted sales letter is the engine that pushes your product to success. The letter is often evidence of an arrangement or a contract, and must therefore be written with care; even the shortest and most usual of letters may have this importance. The need for thought in writing is clear when you realise that in speaking either in face-to-face or by telephone the reaction to the spoken word can be seen or heard immediately, but that to a letter is not known until the answer is received. Today the importance of the written word is increasing. The invention of the paperless office does nothing to diminish the power of the written word.

E-mail, the Internet and the World Wide Web have only added to the power of the written word. Ever day I see the importance of writing in the business world. Many businesses lack the ability to generate internally a well-written letter. Not having this ability puts these businesses at a competitive disadvantage. Business writing has become more than a nice thing to have -it has become a business necessity. II.

Writing an Effective Business Letter. As I said, this assignment gives more concentration on the secret factors in writing successful business letters. Writing an effective business letter is an important skill for every manager and business owner. Here are the main steps in creating an effective business letter. Clearly establish what you want to achieve from the letter- whether it is to win back a dissatisfied customer or to reprimand an employee. Whatever the aim, create your letter from these goals.

Make sure you have the relevant accurate facts available. For a late payer, this might include relevant invoices, complaint forms, talks with your sales department and any previous correspondence from the customer. 3. Knowing the recipient of the letter: Write in the language of your recipient. Try to put yourself in the position of the recipient. Read it from his point of view. Is the letter clear or open to misinterpretation.

If you know the recipient, use this knowledge to phrase the letter to generate your desired response. Having established your aims, collected the relevant facts with a conscious view of the recipient- write down the main points of your letter. But, before, you should consider the layout of your letter. 4. Deciding on the layout and format of the letter. (See 2: The layout of a business letter) 5. Concentrating on the language and style of the letter. (Steps of writing are in Session 4: Writing) There are three main formats: blocked, semi-blocked and indented. a) The Blocked Format: has all entries tight against the left -hand margin.

Single spacing is used for the body of the letter within paragraphs and double spacing is used between paragraphs. Block format is easy to learn and easy to arrange. It is widely used for both business and personal letters, in fact, is very similar to a personal business letter. When you use the block form to write a business letter, all the information is typed flush left, with one-inch margins all around. First provide your own address and the date, then skip a line and provide the inside address of the party to whom the letter is addressed. Skip another line before the salutation.

Then write the body of your letter as illustrated here, with no indentation at the beginning of paragraphs. Skip lines between paragraphs. If you are using letterhead that already provides your address, begin with the date. After writing the body of the letter, type the closing, leave 3 - 4 blank lines, then type your name and title (if applicable), all flush left. Sign the letter in the blank space above your typed name. Now doesn't that look professional? !

b) The semi-blocked format sets the references and the date to the right margin for filing and retrieval purposes, with the remaining entries placed against the left margin. This is the semi-blocked form. Its layout is nearly the same as the block one. However, the address and the date are written in the top-right corner. Skip one one to the date. In the body, indent the beginning of paragraphs.

One more thing to be considered, the Complimentary Close and Signature is centred-indented. Its clear to see? c) The indented format follows the same layout as either of the above, but indents each paragraph by five or six spaces. Sample: If you are using the indented form, place your address and the date on the top right-hand side of the page. Type the inside address and salutation flush left. Indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch.

Skip lines between paragraphs. Instead of placing the closing and signature lines flush left, type them at the right, even with the address and date above, as illustrated below. Now doesn't that look professional? Sincerely, John Smith Most personal business letters and business letters use a 1 inch right, left, and bottom margins.

The top margin is generally 2 or 2 1 / 4 inches depending on the exercise or letter. There are generally 6 lines (vertical) per inch. The 12 elements of a letter (and their arrangement) have been shown above. I only note some further information about some of them. (2) Date: It should never been abbreviated (as January to Jan. 31). Open punctuation is common, otherwise, use comma (, ). (4) Attention: appear right bellow the recipients address when the address is a company abd you dont know the name of the reader. (5) Salutation: Words used as a salutation are: Sir, Dear Sir, Sirs, Madam, Gentlemen t, Dear Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. They depend on your relationship with the recipient.

Always try to personalise letter thus avoiding the dear sir / madam situation. (Further is in the next session). A salutation is traditionally followed by a comma (, ), but now many companies in American use colon (: ) or no punctuation. (see 2. 2. How to address a non-sexist business letter) (6) Subject matter: optional, but its inclusion can help the recipient in dealing successfully with the aims of your letter. Normally the subject sentence is preceded with the word Re: /Subject: .

It should be placed one line below the greeting. (7) Body: It should be divided into paragraphs. Each subject should be dealt within a separate one. The first paragraph should introduce the subject matter (reason for writing); it could be very short. The second paragraph (or paragraphs) explains the exact situation and provides details that support the reason for writing.

Here might go dates, names, and facts like cost and times. You will be asking the company to take some action in the last paragraph, and this middle paragraph (or these middle paragraphs) should provide the necessary evidence to persuade the company to take the action you request. The final paragraph tells the company what action you would like it to take. If you wrote a letter of complaint, you " ll ask for repair or replacement of the offending item. If it is a letter of praise, you " ll ask them to count you among their most loyal customers -- or something like that.

This last paragraph should be very clear and precise. Marginate paragraphs to the left, leave a blank line in a single spaced letter to indicate a new paragraph (8) Signature: The signature should be clear and legible-showing you are interested in the letter and consequently the recipient. (12) Enclosures: indicates that something other than the letter is included in the envelope. If have, put 'Enclosure', "Enclosures" or Enc, or' Encs' before the attachment, two lines below the last entry. 2. 3. How to address a non-sexist business letter. Let us look at the standard opening phrase of a standard business letter: This is clearly sexist as it precludes the possibility that a woman is reading the letter.

We can try to fix this, however, by writing: This was suggested in a recent posting in a few of the gender-issue related news groups. However, someone pointed out that by putting the masculine title before the feminine one, unacceptable dominance was demonstrated, making this non-PC. So, lets consider: This is no good since we " re showing dominance in the other direction. Of course, since Men are Oppressors and Women are Oppressees, which may not be so bad.

But it's not really PC, is it? Thus, another way: That solves the problem of who goes first. Of course, the Sir is on top now, which is completely unacceptable. Missionary style het-sexist imagery abounds. Its bad, probably worse than the original. Reverse it: Making women do all the work is sexist.

Besides, there is still one on top of the other showing dominance. We may not sure who's doing what, but somebody is being oppressed here. What about putting the Sir inside the Madam - neither is going first and neither is above the other one? This is so unacceptable. The Sir has inserted himself inside the Madam!

Practically splitting her in two with himself. A man writing a letter addressed like this to a woman is obviously making an (unwanted) sexual advance. Now we put the Madam inside the Sir. Oh, now the Sir has enveloped the Madam!

Horrors, she has lost her identity, her sense of self! This is imprisonment! (Oh, how could I have even thought of this one? ) Thus, there's only one answer left: There. Simple, no reference to sex or sexuality, no problems. Not very friendly, but then again unwanted intimacy is a sin.

And getting rid of friendliness is a small price to pay to make sure that absolutely no-one is ever, ever offended. The above is just what I have made up. In fact, Dear Sir/Madam is commonly used, becomes even formulaic when you are not sure about the recipient; or uses Dear + Job Tittle (Personnel Director) If you know the recipient is male or female, the salutation must be Dear Sir (for man), Dear Madam (for woman). In the case that you write to a person you have close relationship, Dear + Surname is better.

Sir: This has become very formal nowadays and is not generally used except by government officers. Dear Sir: By far the most accepted form. However this is used only when a relationship between the correspondences already exists. Dear Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms: use if the writer knows the recipient well, and wants to give a personal (friendly) (touch rather than being formal as usual. Very important: use Ms for women unless asked to use Mrs or Miss. Previously we created the main points of our letter, now we must transform this into a final version.

To do this, 3 main considerations are necessary. Always try to personalise your letters; try to be civil and friendly even if the subject matter is stern and sensitive. Give the impression to the recipient that some effort and thought has gone into the letter. Once the final version of the letter has been created, polish it off with a final spelling and punctuation check. Open Punctuation: When no punctuation follows the opening (salutation or greeting) or the complimentary close of a letter (except one that may end in an abbreviation), open punctuation has been used. Open punctuation is compatible with block format because both save time and reduce errors. &# 61553; Simple, direct, and concise language will be the most easily understood by reader, and therefore is most appropriate.

Clarity of communication is the primary goal. Don't use technical jargon if the recipient is unlikely to understand it. Short sentences are less likely to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Be precise; don't ramble; avoid abbreviation (especially date).

Check each sentence to see if it is relevant. Does it add to the point? This is not to say that all the words and expressions should be simple or monosyllabic. A limited vocabulary always makes dull reading. But current cliches, such as at this moment in time, and pompous expressions, or any words which are unlikely to be understood should be avoided. &# 61553; The following suggestions help you to avoid the use of jargon. 1. Use active, not passive forms of verbs.

Passive voice is weak and confusing. A decision has been reached by the committee is inferior to The committee has reached a decision Also, readers can sense your evasiveness if you write: Your order has been misplaced instead of I misplaced your order. 2. Avoid circumlocution, in other words always prefer the shorter, simpler expression. Use for example: for not for the purpose of 3. Choose the more common, shorter words. &# 61553; One of the ways to make your paragraphs coherent, read smoothly, and achieve a sense of unity is to use transitional words and phrases. These words serve as road signs which tell your reader here is a conclusion, a contrast, a comparison, an example, a beginning, etc. : The followings are standard phrases.

They make the letter a professional tone. The Start (see 2. 2. How to address a non-sexist business letter) With reference to your advertisement in the Times, Thank you for your letter of March 5 th. I am writing to enquire about apologise for confirm Please contact us again if we can help in any way.

The Finish, Reference to Future Contact I/We look forward to hearing from you soon. Please tell us if we can give you any further help I hope this information will be of use to you Name and address Salutation Complimentary Close To Whom It may Concern Yours faithfully, Ms J. Smith Dear Ms Smith, Yours sincerely, The style we choose will be a compromise between several different elements. First, it will to some extent reflect our own personalities. This is not to say that we should use too idiosyncratic a style, for we are seeking to project an image not only of ourselves but also of the organisation on whose behalf we may be writing. But an element of originality is desirable.

Originality means that the letter will avoid the use of jargon and both impress the reader, and try to meet the readers particular needs. Second, our style, in the choice of vocabulary, sentence structure. , will seek primarily to be comprehensible to the reader. A letter to ratepayers, explaining the need to increase rates, will be phrased in very different terms from a report on the same circulated within the Treasures Department. Third, the style must be suitable to the subject. Formal circumstances, such as debt collection or complaint letters, requires a formal, though not threatening tone. When one is asking a favour, the style will be much more informal, though it should never be allowed to to slip into colloquialisms.

So our style in writing letters will reflect ourselves, our readers needs and the demands of the subject matter. But the final aim will be to write well. This does not mean the use of literary flourishes bur of accuracy, brevity and a touch of elegance. III. What makes a successful business letter. 1. How to write business letters that get results Failure to get to the point, technical jargon, pompous language, misreading the reader -- these are the poor stylistic habits that cause others to ignore the letters we send.

Part of the problem is that writers do not know how to write persuasively. The solution is AIDA, a simple formula lets you cut through jargon and messy language to create straightforward writing that works. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Demand, and Action -- a sequence of psychological reactions that happen in the mind of the reader as he is sold on your idea. Briefly, here's how it works.

First, the letter gets the reader's attention with a hard-hitting lead paragraph that goes straight to the point or offers an...


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