Effective Business Letter Writing

Some years back, as a professional in the information technology industry, I used to do a lot of business writing including business plans, white paper, business proposals, monthly project reports, and all that. Apparently, business memo and/or letter writing is much a part of business writing, in fact fundamental to an effective business.

Recently, I got a call from a friend who asked for some tips in effective business writing. With the advent of the Internet, many people now do business letter writing via email, whether as one-on-one communication or copy others.

Online or not, as in any kind of writing, we should always think of our readers or letter-recipients, foremost. They are our captive audience. We might even need to change a bit of our style to meet their needs.

Think Reader

The best way is to put ourselves in out readers' position. We want to receive a helpful and sincere letter. If we keep our readers in mind when we write, that is, put in the right amount of information and appropriate manner and tone, we will be able to establish a good rapport with them. Over the years, I've read some letters from managers that strike me as too defensive or over-protective of their business areas or organizations. Some of them, obviously, have been written over by the books almost losing the human tone.

Show Sincere Interest in Readers

We should always show a sincere interest in our readers' circumstances. For example, if they have a query from their original letter, this should be referred to as a part of our reply.  Readers look for relevant information, presented in an easy-to-understand style. They don't need information overloaded that they might already know, as well as a superfluous business jargon.  Often, they want a general idea of a message that can be understood in one reading.

Seven Cs of Effective Business Letter Writing

Here's something I'd like to share with readers who aren't already familiar with them, and a reminder to those who are - the seven Cs of effective business letter writing:

• Clear
• Complete
• Concise
• Conversational
• Convincing
• Correct
• Courteous.

The seven Cs of effective business letter writing are too straightforward to be defined and described. Let us remember that when we write a business letter, we are trying to convince the other person to respond in a positive way, with interest, and as much as possible, quickly.