How to write a business letter. business letter sample

Drafting various kinds of business letters is a necessary part of the work of business representatives. Thanks to such messages, they acquire the opportunity to solve commercial issues in the most accessible, fast and optimal way.

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What are business letters

Conventionally, business letters can be divided into several main categories:

• congratulatory letter;
• information mail;
• and so on.

A separate item can be marked as answers to all these letters, which are also part of official business correspondence and are also written according to certain canons.

Who should act as the author of the letter

Business letters must always contain a signature. At the same time, any employee of the company whose competence includes this function or authorized to do so by order of the director can be directly involved in compiling the letter. Usually this is a specialist or head of the structural unit in charge of the subject of the message. However, regardless of who is writing the letter, in any case, the letter must be submitted for approval to the manager, bearing in mind that it is written on behalf of the company.

General rules for writing business letters

All business messages should relate only to the activities of the company or the circumstances associated with it. At the same time, regardless of the content, they must comply with certain requirements.

First of all, it is a certain structure. The message should always include:

• writing date,
• details of the sender and recipient,
• polite address address (in the form of the wording “Dear Ivan Petrovich”, “Dear Elena Grigoryevna”),

It should be noted that letters can be addressed to both individual employees and entire teams (in this case, it is enough to confine ourselves to the greeting “Good afternoon!”).

Various additional documents, photo and video evidence may be attached to the letter - if any, this must be reflected in the main text.

The letter can be drawn up both on a regular standard sheet of A4 format, and on the letterhead of the organization. The second option is preferable, because with it you do not need to manually enter the details of the company, in addition, such a letter looks more solid and once again indicates that the message belongs to official correspondence. It can be written in handwritten form (letters written in calligraphic handwriting are especially successful), or printed on a computer (it is convenient when you need to create several copies of a letter).

The letter must be certified with a signature, but it is not necessary to stamp it, because. Since 2016, legal entities have been exempted from the need to use seals in their activities.

Before sending, the message, if necessary, is registered in the journal of outgoing documentation, in which it is assigned a number and the date of departure is set.

What to look for when writing a letter

When composing a letter, you need to carefully monitor spelling, adhere to the rules and norms of the Russian language in terms of vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, etc. Recipients always pay attention to how well the thoughts are expressed and framed in the message.

Do not forget that the studies conducted clearly show that people are not ready to spend more than one minute reading this kind of letters.

The letter must be written in the correct form, without “spreading the thought along the tree”, rather short and succinctly, to the point. Each new topic should be framed as a separate paragraph, which, if necessary, should be divided into paragraphs. In addition, a concise and clear letter will make it clear to the recipient that the author values ​​his time. Here the saying “brevity is the sister of talent” is in place.

What Not to Do in a Business Letter

In business letters, a cheeky or frivolous tone is completely unacceptable, just like too dry text and banal “stamps”. You should also avoid complex formulations, an abundance of participial and participle turns, special terminology understandable to a narrow circle of specialists.

The letter should not include unverified, unreliable, and even more so, deliberately false information.

It should be borne in mind that this type of message is not only part of routine business correspondence, but, in many cases, refers to official documents that can later acquire the status of legally significant.

How to send a letter

Any official message can be sent in several basic ways.

1. The first, the most modern and fastest, is through electronic means of communication. It is convenient and fast, besides, it allows you to send information of almost unlimited volume.

   There is only one minus here - with a large amount of mail from the addressee, the letter can easily get lost or fall into the Spam folder, therefore, when sending letters in this way, it is advisable to additionally make sure that the letter has been received (through a simple phone call).

2. The second way: conservative, which allows you to send a message by Russian Post. At the same time, it is recommended to use the function of sending by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt - this form guarantees that the letter will reach the addressee, about which the recipient will receive a special notification.

   Typically, sending via standard mail is used in cases where original documents are sent, letters certified by living signatures and seals.

3. Also, a letter can be sent via fax or various instant messengers, but only on condition that the relations between the partners are close enough and fully allow such a way of correspondence.

Instruction

Start your letter by indicating who you are writing to. Format the message as is customary in business correspondence. In the upper right part of the document, write in three lines the position, company name and last name of the manager, for example:

To CEO
OOO IntersvyazCom
Ivanov I.I.

Specify who is the addressee of the letter. Do this after indenting from the previous section of the message also on the right side. You need to indicate your position and last name with initials, for example:

From Head of Sales
Esenina E.E.

Indent a few lines from the previous section, align the cursor in the middle of the page, indicate the nature of the message. You can write a "Memorandum", "Information letter" or "Explanatory note", it all depends on what you are contacting the head of the organization about. Do not put a dot after the title. If the letter is related to any request, you can simply contact the director by name and patronymic in a respectful manner.

Begin the letter with words that explain the reason for writing it, such as “in continuation of our negotiations”, “as per your request”, or “based on your suggestions”.

If your letter is related to a request for the purchase of equipment, promotion of an employee, or the provision of a business trip, it is better to begin the letter with the phrase “Please consider the opportunity ...”.

State the situation, make explanations, draw up tables or graphs, if the nature of the letter requires it. The alignment of the body of the document should be set to the width of the page. Each line must start with an indent.

Sign the letter, be sure to use the standard “respectfully yours” before indicating the last name, after it you must put a comma.

Do not forget to indicate the date of writing the letter and sign the printed document.

If your organization has an internal e-mail communication, start your letter with an appeal and set out all the information in a free form.

Sources:

• letter of request to director

Official letters make up to 80% of the total number of documents that are prepared in an organization or enterprise. With their help, communication between institutions and individuals takes place. Service letters are informational in nature, they can also be made in the form of a request or requirement.

Instruction

Decide on the purpose of the letter. It is needed only if the issue to which it is devoted cannot be resolved by or in person, and also if it should serve as an official document confirming the very fact of its sending. Think it over in advance and make sure that you have chosen the addressee and that it will be within their competence to answer if your letter- request.

Only one question should be stated in one. Several questions are allowed to be stated only if they are interconnected. The recipient must immediately understand the essence of your letter, so it must be stated in the very first phrases. In them, inform not only the essence of the question, but also the actions that you expect to receive in response. In the introductory part, you can refer to the regulations that guide you when writing a letter and which serve as the basis for requesting or providing information.

If the circumstances and the essence of the issue are already known to the addressee and have been discussed in advance, then the letter can be written without an introductory part, stating the question itself right away.

The main body of the letter should encourage action, convince or clarify. The text should be clear, concise, concise and logical. The facts stated in it must be verified and objective, the digital data must be as accurate as possible. Write the letter in a businesslike, neutral tone. The text can be written in the first person singular or plural, or in the third person singular.

Avoid categorical expressions in the text of the letter. Use introductory words and constructions for this: if possible, apparently, as follows from, as is known.

The businessman requires you to start the letter with "Dear" and write the name and patronymic of the addressee. If they are not there, then at the end of the letter, before your signature, there must be the phrase "Respectfully,". You can also emphasize this respect in the text of the letter, using such adverbial phrases as: “having carefully studied your comments ...”, “carefully considering your proposals ...”.

The official letter must be written on the letterhead of the organization, which indicates its full name and contact numbers.

When carrying out business activities, some heads of organizations are forced to use business trips. From article 166 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation it follows that the employee is sent to the order of the head of the organization. But what if the director himself goes on an official assignment, because it turns out that he sends himself on an official assignment.

Instruction

First of all, look in the charter of the company who has the right to issue administrative documents. If it is written there that only the head (who is also the director) owns the right to publish, then he must draw up documents for a business trip. If you have delegated the right to sign to a deputy, travel documents are signed by this person.

Issue a job assignment for sending on a business trip, it has a unified form No. T-10a. Here, specify the destination of the business trip, its start and end time (according to tickets), the purpose of the trip. Sign the document. At the end of your business trip, complete the report at the bottom of the form.

Issue an order to send an employee on a business trip (form No. T-9). If the charter provides for the delegation of the right to sign to another person, he must draw up an administrative document. Enter information about the business trip here: destination and period of the business trip, purpose and reason (duty assignment). Sign the document or give it to the deputy for signature.

Issue an order for your temporary substitution. If there is a deputy, appoint him to act as head; if there is no such position in the state, appoint another person. In the administrative document, write down the replacement period and the reason (business trip), specify a number of powers.

Issue a power of attorney for the deputy to conduct business. For example, to represent the interests of the company in the tax authority. Take care of signing financial documents. To do this, you can contact your bank and remake the signature card.

Draw up a travel certificate (form No. T-10). Please enter your full name director of the organization, his personnel number. Below, enter the purpose of the trip and the period of being away from the workplace. Sign the document.

Sources:

• how to arrange travel

In the process of work, we often come across official documents. And sometimes it happens that in addition to the task of receiving correspondence, any employee has a need to respond to it. How to write a business letter? Many people face this question every day. And this means that it is time to learn how to write formally and correctly.

Structure of a business letter

Regardless of the content of official correspondence, there are norms and requirements for its writing. Modern technologies allow you to write two types of letters - paper and electronic. They have few differences, but they still have their own characteristics. Therefore, we will consider both options.

Drafting a paper business letter

The structure of official appeals looks something like this:

1. Appeal. It replaces the greeting in a business letter and begins with the words "Dear (s) ...". It is located in the center of the page and begins with a capital letter. Further nuances. For example, in the West it is customary to address only by name, and in Russia by name and patronymic. If we are talking about the military, then the greeting may look like this: "Dear Comrade Colonel." If you are writing a formal invitation, you can use the options "Ladies and Gentlemen" or "Dear Sirs". There are several ways to start a business letter. It is better to dwell on the one that is accepted in the country where you live and in the team where you work.
2. Main part. It consists of several paragraphs and includes the main information that you want to convey to the addressee. This may be a description of the situation, an expression of your opinion, a request, condolences, etc. It is also important to remember the rules of communication in official letters. If you are writing on behalf of a company, firm, or society, then the appeal is written in the third person of a single person (company: “warns”, “reminds”, “notifies”, etc.). Another option is the first person plural: “we inform”, “notify”, “direct”, etc.
3. Conclusion. Here it is worth adding conclusions from the main part of the above and summing up logical justifications. For example: "I am sure that you will assess the situation and express your point of view."
4. P.S. Additional completion of a business letter. It is not often used in official correspondence, but it is quite acceptable if you do not know how to finish a business letter. A postscript may contain information that is indirectly related to the subject of the letter or that occurred after it was written. For example: "Tomorrow at 12:00 there will be a meeting of directors dedicated to this issue."

After the main part is written, it is important not to forget about the rules for formatting a business letter:

1. After the conclusion or postscript, you need to sign, indicate your position, last name, first name and patronymic. Also, a polite form is allowed before the signature: “With respect”, “Sincerely yours”, “In the hope of a productive partnership”, etc. Under the signature must be its transcript. Example: "With respect, the head of the group of companies "Ellada" Ivanov V.S.".
2. If attachments are required to the letter, they are drawn up in the form of separate pages.
3. Business letters must be written on special forms that comply with the standard of official documents. The form must contain the following details: name of the organization, legal address, telephone and fax number, date and number of the document, if this is a response letter, then there should be a link to the number and date of the letter received, addressee, heading, text, application note, signature and telephone number.

How to format a business email?

A business email should meet the same requirements. However, there are a number of nuances that should be considered when writing and sending it. Parts of a business letter on the global network look like this:

How to write a business letter that will not be lost in the "information garbage" and will be read? Rules, recommendations, examples

The word is an affordable business tool. In the business world, it is impossible to find a person who would not use the word in his work.

Modern business is gradually turning into a correspondence business. With the help of letters - electronic or traditional - there is communication with customers, business partners, employers. The letter positions the author either as a professional or as a person with whom it is not worth continuing a relationship.

A professional must be able to write

• It's clear
• effectively
• earnestly
• Interesting

And it's never too late to learn. We start with the basics: we comprehend the difference between business and ordinary writing.

How is a business letter different from a regular one? The specifics of a business letter

A letter is a short text of one or two pages, the purpose of which is to convey information to the addressee about something.

The nature of the information and the relationship between the sender and the recipient of the letter divide the correspondence into

• business (formal)
• personal (informal)

A business letter is characterized by:

• conciseness
• accuracy
• reasoning and logic
• informative
• evaluative and emotional neutrality
• standardization:
• official forms are used
• stable turns of speech, special clerical terms and constructions are used
• number of topics - 1-2
• targeting
• clearly defined subordination (if necessary)

What are the types of business letters?

The type of business letter determines

1. Purpose of writing it

Commercial purposes

• You want to conclude a deal and offer its specific conditions - write an offer letter (offer) for the addressee

• If you have not decided on the terms of the transaction acceptable to you, send a request letter
• Do you want to inform your addressee about the violation of obligations under the contract on his part? Compose a complaint letter

Non-commercial purposes

• Give thanks in a thank you letter
• Confirm your obligations with a letter of guarantee, and your consent with a letter of confirmation
• Write informational letters if you think that your information will be of interest to the addressee
• Remind about important agreements, obligations, penalties with reminder letters
• Congratulate in congratulation letters, ask in request letters, condole in condolence letters
• If you need to send important documents or valuables, be sure to write a cover letter for your shipment

2. Recipient

If you are addressing a letter to several recipients at once, then you are composing a circular letter

Your letter can touch on several topics at the same time, which automatically makes it multifaceted

4. Structure

Regulated letters involve compiling the text part of the letter according to a certain pattern, while unregulated letters have a free form of presentation

5. Form of departure

• in an envelope
• electronic
• by fax

The structure of a business letter: introduction, body, conclusion

The structure of a standard business letter requires more careful consideration.

A well-formed letter must follow the following pattern:

Let's take a closer look at some points of the scheme:

1. Title

As a rule, this is a summary of the subject of the letter.

Important: Compose the heading correctly if you want the recipient to read your letter.

The absence of headings in business correspondence is typical for beginners who do not have basic business correspondence skills.

2. Handling

• has the traditional form "Dear"
• capitalized in the middle of the line

Important: The use of abbreviations in circulation is prohibited!

3. Preamble

• introduces the recipient to the main idea of ​​the letter
• prepares the addressee for the correct perception of the subsequent information contained in the letter

4. The main body of the text justifies the key idea stated in the preamble

This part of the letter

• you clearly indicate the essence of the proposal / appeal
• give arguments: facts, figures, other specifics on the subject of the letter. expert opinion, own positive/negative experience

For convenience of justification, the following scheme can be used:

Important: The last paragraph should contain a phrase that indicates a specific step or expected result and encourage the addressee to take action.

5. In conclusion:

6. In the "Signature" window, information about the addressee must be indicated:

• job title

How not to make a mistake in choosing a writing style?

In business correspondence, you constantly have to make choices regarding the style of writing and the tone of communication with the addressee. How dry, formal, official or, on the contrary, lively, warm, humane, should your message be?

• Personal style in business correspondence emphasizes the individual qualities of the person who wrote the letter.
• When using a formal style, facts are stated and appropriate conclusions are drawn based on them.
• Personal style involves communication between the author of the letter and the addressee on an equal footing.
• The formal style demonstrates a clear subordination and strength that the reader of the letter has to reckon with.

In order to choose the right communication style in a business letter, consider:

• in what weight categories are you and your addressee
• you want to negotiate in a good way or put pressure from a position of strength

How to stick to the chosen style?

Personal style

• Presence of personal pronouns: I, we, you
  For example: I apologize to you and sincerely hope that such mistakes will not happen again.
• Direct appeals and requests
  For example: Please do not leave personal belongings unattended.
• Use of emotional evaluative expressions: stellar youth, deafening failure

formal style

• Replacing personal pronouns with abstract nouns
  For example: The administration of the cinema sincerely apologizes for the change in the schedule of evening screenings
• Replacing personal appeals and requests with statements
  For example: Please do not leave personal belongings unattended
• Use of conventional clericalism: I bring to your knowledge, due to the fact that

The formal style is categorically not suitable if you are writing a letter of gratitude or a letter of condolence, that is, those business letters in which you need to express feelings. In a situation where you are writing a request letter or an offer letter, it is also better to stick to a personal style.

What is a claim letter and how to write it? How is it different from other types of letters?

Important: When composing a letter, focus the attention of the addressee on exactly what actions you expect from him. Also, specify the specific time frame for the implementation of the tasks you set.

Complaint letter template will help you write it correctly:

What is a response letter and how to write it?

There are two types of letters of advice:

• rejection letter
• positive response letter

Composing both types of letters has two general rules (provided that the initiative letter was written correctly):
1. The vocabulary and speech patterns of the initiative letter are preserved in the response letter
2. The text of the response letter should not contain information about

• date of writing the letter of initiation
• his registration number

An example of a friendly and correct rejection letter is shown below:

However, giving up doesn't always have to be gentle. There are situations when a tough and strict style of communication is needed. Below is a rejection letter template for all occasions, from hard to soft:

Information letter: its difference from letters of response and letters of complaint

The information letter is multifunctional:

• informs (for example, about price changes in price lists)
• notifies (of the re-election of members of the board of directors)
• notifies (of the shipment of goods)
• declares (intentions)
• confirms (receipt of goods)
• reminds (of the fulfillment of obligations assumed under the contract)
• advertises and informs (about the company in general, about goods / services in particular)

Perhaps the most pressing issue today is the question of how to write an advertising and information letter.

1. Lack of structure
2. The presence of slang or informal vocabulary in the text of the letter
3. Sloppy design
4. An abundance of spelling, syntactic, stylistic errors
5. Lack of reliable facts, objective information in the letter
6. Violation of elementary rules of politeness (especially in complaint letters)
7. Use of cumbersome and incomprehensible sentences in the text
8. Lack of logic in the presentation of the material
9. Absence of transcripts of abbreviations
10. General blurring of the text in the case of its aimless compilation

What else do you need to know about business letters?

1. For modern business correspondence, the method of block structure of text composition is used.
This method saves time and maintains the overall style of all business documentation. A characteristic feature of the method is open punctuation or the absence of periods / commas (for example, when making lists)

2. A sans-serif font (for example, Arial) can be used for the title of the letter. Such a font is subconsciously perceived as stable and solid.

3. Body text should use serif fonts (Times News Roman). Serifs make it easier for the eyes to move from letter to letter, making reading faster

Important: There are letters that are always written by hand!
These are letters of congratulations, letters of condolence, letters of gratitude

A large amount of useful information regarding the drafting of texts for business letters can be found in the video from Sasha Karepina.

Video: How to write cover letters and resumes

Video: "Learning from storytellers." Secrets of selling texts

There are special requirements for the design of outgoing correspondence. This is due to the fact that it is informational and reference in nature. When issuing a service letter, it is worth considering the requirements of GOST R 6.30-2003 “Unified Documentation Systems. Unified system of organizational and administrative documentation. Requirements for paperwork” and apply the forms of the organization. For details, it is necessary to focus on GOST R 6.30-2003 (from 07/01/2018 it will be necessary to focus on GOST R 7.0.97-2016). This will allow you to maintain a clear structure of the document and maintain the required style of business communication, as well as correctly position the details of a business letter.

It is important to note that GOST R 6.30-2003 (as well as GOST R 7.0.97-2016) is advisory and organizations themselves can develop letterheads for business correspondence. Mandatory compliance with the specified GOST is only for federal executive authorities.

The heading of the document can be located both longitudinally and have an angular arrangement (the details of the letterhead, phone numbers and addresses of organizations are usually located here). A sample letter with an angular arrangement of details is the most common option in modern office work.

Sample letterhead with corner details

At the top of the document are:

• date of;
• number;
• reference to the registration number and date of the document (if the correspondence is a response);
• title to the text, stated in one phrase.

The heading of the official letter is located under the registration number. It contains an appeal to the addressee. FULL NAME. and the position of the addressee should be located in the upper right corner of the document. An appeal to the recipient is written in the center.

From whom and to whom

The details of the sender's company are most often indicated on the letterhead of the company. It is also necessary to correctly indicate the recipient of the correspondence, in other words, the details of the addressee:

• Company name;
• the name of the structural unit to which outgoing correspondence is sent;
• position of the recipient;
• surname and initials of the recipient;
• organization mailing address.

Sample letter on company letterhead

It is important to note that if a letter with the same content needs to be sent to several recipients, then first of all it is necessary to specify the address of the main recipient and only then the rest.

For example:

Yolki-Palki LLC

Legal Department

Moscow, Zelenaya street, 5

COPY

to CEO

Green Branches LLC

Simakov V.A.

Saint Petersburg,

Frunze street, 3

date and number

After the outgoing document has been signed, a date is stamped on it. The date can be in the format 05/17/2018 or May 17, 2019. In the case when the date is indicated several times in the document, it is recommended to maintain a single writing style.

The assignment of a registration number takes place in accordance with the system for registering outgoing documentation, which is accepted in the organization, and only after the signing of the document. The registration number consists of the serial number of the document, which can be supplemented with a case index or letters.

It is important to note that registering an outgoing document makes it easier for both you and your recipient to process mail.

When responding to received official correspondence, it is necessary to fill out the requisite “link to the registration number and date of the request”. In this case, the date and number of the received letter are indicated in the response letter. This will ensure faster processing of correspondence in the recipient company.

Who signs

Official correspondence is mainly signed by managers, and in the absence of him at the workplace, by his deputies or other officials who act as the head during his absence.

It is important to note that modern business correspondence is sent not only by mail, but also by telegraph, fax and e-mail.

Do I need to specify the artist

Despite the fact that each business message is signed by the head of the company or officials authorized by him, the correspondence itself is carried out by an ordinary ordinary employee, that is, a performer. It is his name and contact details that are indicated in this part.

Information about the artist is always located at the very bottom, in the last lines. The full name, patronymic and surname of the employee is written, with a new line his contact phone number, and even lower - the email address. We leave the font the same.

Is it stamped

Letters are usually not stamped, but if outgoing correspondence is of an official nature, is issued on the letterhead of an organization and is intended to enter into legal (legal) relations with someone or another organization and be responsible for all positions set forth in the letter, management may wish to add additional requisite in the form of a seal.