Self-Employed Freelancers & Home-Based Businesses: How
to Write More Powerful Small business Letters
by Suzan St Maur
Many
people in business heaved a sigh of relief when email began
to take over most of their day-to-day correspondence. Processing
business letters – even today – is fiddly and
fussy, compared with the blissful simplicity of email. However
as you know there are still times when ink on paper is essential.
Many of the so-called “professions” (legal, accountancy,
etc) in the UK at least still insist on correspondence being
done via printed letters. They have a deep mistrust of email
and for good reason, as its confidentiality can never be guaranteed.
Business letters are at least fairly private – you have
to assume it’s easier and faster to snoop on email than
it is to steam envelopes open over boiling water. In other
instances, too, printed letters provide a more tamper-proof
formal record of business arrangements, complaints, employee
warnings /terminations and other issues that need to be carved
into tablets of stone. (Well, paper, anyway.)
Old
fashioned business letters structure, modern style
Highlighted
and ridiculed by the casual nature of email, the quaint formality
of the old fashioned business letter seems positively Dickensian
and totally inappropriate for the way we do business now.
There
is an answer, though. Use the formality of structure that
makes the business letter the bullet-proof form of communication
it has come to be. Combine that with the short, straight-talking
style of writing more common to emails, and you have a good
compromise.
Let’s
start with the business letter structure – or rather, the etiquette
which supplies the structure.
There
are variations between accepted etiquette used in the different
English language markets. Here are the main British forms
of address. I have also included the US/Canadian equivalents
where I know them, but I’m afraid I’m not aware
of those used in Australia, NZ or SA.
Formal Business
Letters
The
addressee will either be a title, e.g. “The Chief Executive
Officer” or to an organization or company when you don’t
know to whom your letter should be addressed. When you write
to a title the salutation is “Dear Sir,” “Dear
Madam,” or if you want to play it safe, “Dear
Sir/Madam.” When you write to an organization it’s
“Dear Sirs,” Dear “Mesdames,” or again
if you want to play it safe (but labor the point) “Dear
Sirs/Mesdames.”
Your
sign off will be “Yours faithfully” (UK) or “Yours
truly” (US and Canada.)
Less
Formal Business Letters
This
is where you have a name. And this is where you can get into
hot water if you’re not sure of the gender of the person.
Someone called J C Jennings could be a Jack or a Joanna. Someone
called Leslie Matthews could also be either (traditionally
the female version of the name is spelled “Lesley”
and the male “Leslie,” but I know at least one
lady Leslie.)
Equally
beware of unisex names like Jody, Jo, Bobbie, Alex, Rob, Robin,
Carol (yes, really,) Billie, Chris, Darryl, Eddie, Sam, Jackie,
Nicky, Frances (f) vs Francis (m), Freddie, Gabrielle (f)
vs Gabriel (m), Georgie, Gerry/Jerry, Charlie, Nat, Harry,
Jessie (f) vs Jesse (m), Stevie, Mel, Pat, Ronnie, Sacha,
Sandy, etc. And that’s before we get started on names
from non English-language cultures.
People
these days usually don’t advertise whether they’re
“Mr” or “Ms” or whatever. When in
doubt don’t risk embarrassment; phone the organization
concerned and ask.
Some
people borrow an awful technique from email and use a person’s
whole name in the salutation, e.g. “Dear Suzan St Maur.”
I don’t know about you, but this irritates the h*ll
out of me and I would not recommend it.
So,
when your letter is addressed to “Mr J C Jennings”
your salutation is “Dear Mr Jennings.” If the
information you have is simply “Joanna C Jennings”
you can probably take a chance and write a salutation of “Dear
Ms Jennings.” I don’t know many male Joannas,
but don’t count on it...
Your
sign off will be “Yours sincerely.”
Even Less Formal Business Letters
This
is where the internet’s influence can be allowed to
come into it and give you some freedom from the formalities
expected in, well, more formal letters.
If
you’re writing to someone whom you know on first name
terms then your salutation is going to be “Dear (name)”
and you don’t need to sign off with a “yours”
anything unless you particularly want to. Common forms of
sign off include “warm regards” (US,) “kind
regards,” “best wishes,” etc.
Layout of Business Letters for Small Business
This
isn’t as strictly followed as it used to be, and now
it’s considered OK to design the layout of a letter
around the design of the company letterhead. The elements
you need, wherever you put them, should include:
Your
company name and address (usually done in the letterhead’s
design) The date The addressee’s name, title, company
name and address The salutation (“dear so-and-so”)
The topic of the letter (“re:” whatever) The body
of the letter The sign off (“Yours whatever”)
Your own name and title Traditionally, your own address should
go at the top right of the letter, with the date underneath
it on the right. On the next line at the left margin, you
put the addressee’s name and address. After one or two
spaces, the “Dear (whoever)” goes underneath that.
Two spaces below that, you can put your “re: (topic)”
or just the topic in bold and/or underlined.
Once
you’ve done the body of the letter, create one or two
spaces and put the sign-off either ranged left or indented
a few tabs along towards the right. Create a sufficient number
of spaces for your signature and then key in your name (and
title if appropriate) so it starts directly under the “Y”
of “Yours.”
If
your letter goes on to a second page, where it breaks on page
1 create a space then to the right key in “cont’d.”
You can start page 2 just by keying in “page 2”
and starting again two or three spaces below. Some people
create a mini-heading for the second page with the addressee’s
name on the left, the date in the middle, and the page number
on the right, followed by an underline that crosses the whole
page. This is useful if the two pages become detached from
one another. Okay. Now we’ve established the ground
rules, what do we say?
Keep
the style of your small business letter sharp and simple
Business
letters are not literary works. They are verbal workhorses
with a purpose only to convey information, and what you want
the reader to do with it, as quickly and clearly as possible.
Start
by making notes as if to yourself. These notes will come out
in a direct style naturally, because you’re not intimidated
or disquieted when writing to yourself. Don’t restrict
yourself to a structure at this stage. Just write out everything
you can think of that should go into the letter.
Now,
match your notes to the sequence in one of the “skeletons”
described below. Discard any notes that aren’t relevant.
If
you build up your letter along these lines you’ll find
that your style is clear and straightforward, with no unnecessary
adjectives, adverbs, business phrases, “corporate speak”
or other business BS that some people use in business letters.
All
you need to do then is tidy up with a good edit and spelling
and grammar check. (Although many people take a lenient view
over spelling and grammatical mistakes in emails, they stick
out like sore thumbs in printed letters and make you look
very amateurish.)
Build
your business letter's content on a “skeleton”
Normally
you’ll identify the topic of the letter with “re:
Your Outstanding Account” or less formally, “Your
Outstanding Account” in bold and/or underlined. Then
make notes or bullet points of the main issues you need to
include, on a skeleton like this:
Typically,
a small business' letter's skeleton would include:
1.
Background I see from our records that you were first invoiced
for this amount four months ago and statements have been sent
out to you each month since then.
2.
The sticky issue This can’t go on, especially as you
haven’t contacted us to discuss extending your credit.
3.
What I want to happen now Pay up in the next seven days.
4.
Or else We will be obliged to start legal proceedings against
you.
5.
Sweetener If you do pay up by return, we won’t take
any further action and will restart your 30 days’ credit
as before.
6.
Next move Please contact me urgently and let me know what
you intend to do.
Same
business letter skeleton, different content
You
could use this skeleton for a number of business letter purposes.
Not all business letters have you sitting so comfortably in
the driving seat, however. Let’s say you were the recipient
of this letter and want to winkle out more time to pay.
The
small business skeleton elements remain the same, but we approach from a different
angle...
1.
Background Thank you for bringing this to my attention –
I had no idea we were so late paying.
2.
The sticky issue We’re experiencing serious cashflow
problems at the moment but we have taken steps to rectify
this and anticipate the problem will be solved in the next
3 weeks.
3.
What I want to happen now Would you consider extending our
credit for a while longer, perhaps with interest being chargeable
at a rate we can agree?
4.
Or else We really would like to continue buying our supplies
from you but if we enter into a dispute the goodwill will
be lost and our business relationship will be over.
5.
Sweetener I can assure you our cashflow problem is temporary
and we want to preserve our business relationship with you
if possible.
6.
Next move I will phone you in the next few days to discuss
payment terms.
Build
your own business letter skeleton for your small home-based or freelance business
Obviously
that 6-point skeleton isn’t going to work for every
business letter, but a shortened version of it will be useful
because you can build it back up so it’s tailored to
any number of different needs.
Here’s the basic business letter skeleton
that I use:
1.
Background
2.
The key issue
3.
What will or should happen
4.
What to do next
Any
further tips? Only that business letters should always be
as short as possible. That’s not as simple as it sounds.
Somebody famous (can’t remember who) once apologized
for writing someone a long letter, as he didn’t have
time to write a short one. It’s hard to write concisely,
but if you use the style and skeleton tips above you’ll
find it somewhat easier.
If
you need to go into detail, separate that off into a different
(but attached) document and use the letter only as a summary
of the issue and a call to action.
I’m
no social psychologist so I can’t quote you a scientific
reason, but separating detail from key points usually means
that both get read more thoroughly. It’s probably because
by separating the two elements you provide readers with more
digestible looking chunks. Anyway, it works!
Suzan
St Maur is a leading business and marketing writer
based in the United Kingdom. You can subscribe to her bi-weekly
business writing tips eZine, “TIPZ from SUZE”
on her website – see link - and you can check out her
latest book, “POWERWRITING: the hidden skills you need
to transform your business writing” on any of the Amazons.
http://www.suzanstmaur.com
PRODUCTS
