Business Communication

1. Business Communication Chapter Five

2. The Appearance and Design of Business Messages

3. Letter Letter is a group of paragraphs about a topic or topics. The basic purpose a letter is communication. It takes a message across and expresses certain ideas.

4. Types of Letter Letters fall into the following three types: Personal Letters Business Letters Governmental Letters

5. Personal Letters Personal letters are concerned with family matters, friendships and social engagement and other arrangements of purely personal sort. They are exchanged among relatives and friends. Some important types of personal letters are: Letters of Greetings and Congratulations Letters of thanks Letters of invitations

6. Continued…. • Letters of Condolence • Letters of sympathy • Letters of Apology • Family letters • Letters between couples • Letters to teachers/friends

7. Business Letters • Business letter is the medium used most often for written messages to persons outside the organization. • Your letter’s appearance conveys non-verbal impressions that affect reader’s attitude even before that person reads the letter. • Elements of appearance that help produce favorable reactions: • Appropriate stationary • Correct letter parts • Layouts

8. Continued… • Stationary and Envelopes • Quality, Size, Color: • Letterhead is the printed heading giving the name and address of the company. • Envelopes: Return address of the sender should be in the upper left corner of the envelope. The addressee’s address should be placed according to the postal service guidelines.

9. Continued… 2. Standard Parts of Letters • Heading- Letterhead and Date • Inside Address • Salutation/Address • Body of the Letter • Complimentary Close • Signature Area • Reference Initial

10. Continued... • Heading-letterhead and date A heading shows where the letter comes from. If it is letterhead stationery, it is usually at the top center of the letter. If you are not using letterhead stationery, your return address, but not your name, is type directly above the date about 2 inches from the top.

11. Continued…. • Inside address The inside address include the address of the Addressee. 3. Salutation or Greeting. A salutation is the complimentary term used to begin the letter. 4. Body (Communication) It conveys the main message. If the letter deals with different subjects, they should be put in different paragraphs in order of importance.

12. Continued… 5. Complimentary Close. It is written to close the letter. The most popular complimentary closes in American letters are the following. Sincerely, (the most popular) Sincerely yours, Yours sincerely, Very truly yours, Yours very truly, Cordially, Cordially yours,

13. Continued…. 6. Signature lines (area) • You can include several identification in it. Examples: Name of your company Your signature Your typed written name Your business title

14. Continued… If printed on the letterhead, your company needs not be typed after the complimentary close. However, if your wish to include it, type it in capital letters a double space under the complimentary close.

15. Continued…. • Reference Initials your initials as the composer of the message along with those of the typist usually appear at the left margin on the same line with the last line of signature area or one or two lines below that.

16. Continued… 3. Optional Parts of Business Letters • Attention line • Subject line • Enclosures • Copy notation • File or account number • Mailing notation • Postscript

17. Continued… 1. Attention line Type the name of the person to whom you are sending the letter. If you write the person’s name in the inside address, skip this. Do the same on the envelope. If you type an attention line, skip the person’s name in the inside address. 2. Subject line It helps tell your reader at a glance what your letter is about. It is usually placed on the second line below the salutation. 3. Enclosure notation An enclosure or attachment notation is included to remind your reader to check for additional pages of information. The enclosure notation is usually typed single or double space under reference initial.

18. Continued…. 4. Copy notation (Copy Distribution) When person other than the addressee will receive a copy of your message, you note by writing “C”, or “CC” followed by the names of these persons just below the reference initial or the enclosure notation. 5. File or Account Number To aid and filling and quick retrieved for both the sender’s and the reader’s company, some firm require that file, loan, or account numbers be typed above the body of the letter. 6. Mailing Notation Mailing notation words, such as Special Delivery, Certified, or Registered, when applicable, may be typed a double space below the date line and at least a double space before the inside address. Also, the notation could be typed at the bottom, a double space after the reference initials.

19. Continued…. 7. Postscript If there is a Postscript, it should start a double space beneath all other information and can be proceeded by the initial “P.S.,” “PS,” or “PS:” However, the current trend is to omit these initials. A busy person reading will often read the postscript while noticing else, knowing that there may be found the most interesting tidbit of the letter. Many business people write postscript for emphasis rather than for afterthoughts, and they are frequently used or personal messages in business letters

20. Continued… 4. Letter Layout i. Punctuation Style • Open Punctuation • Mixed Punctuation a. Open Punctuation In open punctuation, no line of any letter part (except the body) has any punctuation at the end unless the abbreviation requires a period. b. Mixed Punctuation In mixed punctuation, a colon follows the salutation; a comma follows the Complimentary close. Foreign writers, especially those in Asia and Great Britain, use a comma in place of a colon after the salutation. He argue that colons are too formal.

21. Continued… Business letters are usually arranged in one of the letter style. 1. Block Style Every line begins at the left margin. This is in common format because it is quick and easy to set up. 2. Modified block The date, complimentary close, and signature sections begins at the horizontal center of the page or are place so that they end near the right-hand margin. Attention and subject lines may be indented, centered, or begin at the left margin, where all other parts begin.

22. Modified block.Block Style

23. Continued… 3. Semi block style (Modified block with paragraph indented)

24. Azizullah Qazikhail, MBA Administrator MoPH, GCMU, Wazir Akbar Khan, Masoud Square, Kabul Office Ph: Cell:0000000