Business Correspondence

Business Correspondence Meeting 1 • Presentation of Business Document • Structuring your communication • Language and Tone • Email

Presentation of Business Document • Printed Stationery • The examples of letterhead. • The paper used by a company shows the personality of the company. • Parts of letterhead: • A logo or graphic symbol identifying the company. • The company’s name • The full postal address • Contact numbers – telephone, fax, email address. • The website address.

Presentation of Business Document • Fully Blocked Style with Open Punctuation • There are various styles in correspondence. • Fully blocked style is the most widely used because: • It has businesslike appearance • It reduces typing time (no indentation). • Open Punctuation usually comes with fully block style. It does not need any unnecessary full stops and commas. Example: 24 July 2006

Presentation of Business Document • Continuation pages • Is the sheets that are used for the second or subsequent pages of business letters. • It should also include: • Page number • Date • Name of addressee

BLOCK STYLE

MODIFIED BLOCK

Parts of a Business Letter: • REFERENCE • DATE • INSIDE ADDRESS • SPECIAL MARKINGS • SALUTATION • HEADING • COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE • NAME OF SENDER AND DESIGNATION • ENCLOSURES • COPIES

Reference • Includes the initials of the writer (usually in upper case) and the typist (usually in upper or lower case). A file or a departmental may also be included. • Examples GBD/ST GBD/st/Per1 GBD/ST/134 • Our ref : DH/sa  Daniel Horstmann wrote the letter and • Sarah Andy, the secretary typed it. • Exercises: • ...

Date: • The date should always be shown in full. • In UK  it is usual to show the date in the order day/month/year. No commas are used. • Example: 24 July 2006 • In some countries the date is typed in the order month/day/year, often with a comma after the date. • Example: July 24, 2006

Inside Address: • The name and address should be typed on a separate lines as it would appear on an envelope. • For example: a person signing as ‘Smith Beckenbauer’ should be addressed as such in the inside address, preceded with the courtesy title ‘Mr’. • To address him as ‘Mr S Beckenbauer’ would not be appropriate. • Exercises: ...

Special Markings: • If a letter is confidential it is usual to include special markings as part of the inside address. • This may be typed in upper case or in initial capitals with underscore. • Examples: • CONFIDENTIAL Miss Iris Tan Personnel DirectorSoft Toys plc 21 Windsor Road Birmingham B2 5JT

Salutation: • If the recipient’s name has been used in the inside address, it is usual to use a personal salutation. • For example: • Dear Mr Leighton Dear Douglas Dear Miss Tan • If your letter is addressed generally to an organisation and not to a specific person, the more formal salutation ‘Dear Sirs’ should be used. • If your letter is addressed to a head of department or the head of an organisation whose name is not known, then it would be appropriate to use: • Dear Sir or Madam

Heading: • A heading gives a brief indication of the content of the letter. • It is usually also called as Subject of Letter • It is usually placed one clear line space after the salutation. • Upper case is generally used. • Dear Mrs Marshall INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE – 24 AUGUST 2003

Complimentary Close: • The two most common closes are: • Yours faithfully • Yours sincerely • Yours faithfully: • Used only with Dear Sir/Sirs/Sir or Madam • Yours sincerely: • Used with personalised salutations such as: • Dear Mr Leighton • Dear Caroline • Dear Mrs Tan

Name of Sender and Designation: • After the complimentary close 4 or 5 spaces should be left so that the letter can be signed. • The name of the sender should be inserted (in whatever style is preferred –Upper case or initial capitals only). • The sender’s designation or department should be shown directly beneath his/her name. • Examples: • Yours faithfully Yours sincerely PATRICK ASHE LESLEY BOLAN (Mrs) Chairman General Manager • When a letter has to be signed on the behalf of the sender, it is usual to write ‘for’ or ’pp’ in front of the sender’s printed name; ‘pp’ is the abbreviation for pre procurationem (on behalf of). • Examples: Yours faithfully Shirley Johnson for EDWARD NATHAN Chairman

Enclosures: • There are many methods of indicating that an enclosure is being sent along with a letter: • Affix a colored ‘enclosure’ sticker usually in the bottom left-hand corner of the letter. • Type three dots in the left-hand margin on the line where the enclosures is mentioned in the body of the letter/ • Type ‘Enc’ or ‘Encs” at the foot of the letter, leaving once clear line space after the sender’s designation.  this is the most common form of indicating enclosures. • Example Yours sincerely Linda Patterson (Mrs) Marketing Manager Enc

Copies: • When a copy of a letter is to be sent to a third party (usually someone in the sender’s organisation) this may be indicated by typing ‘cc’ (copy circulated or courtesy copy) or ‘Copy’ followed by the name and designation or the copy recipient. • If there are two or more copy recipients, it is usual to show these in alphabetical order. Example: • Ravi Gopal, General Manager Ashley Ow Yong, Company Secretary Candice Reeves, Accountant • If the writer does not wish the recipinet of the letter to know that third person is receiving a copy of the letter, then ‘bcc’ (blind carbon/courtesy copy) is used. This should not be shown on the top of the letter, only on the file copy and bcc copy/ies

Try to identify this letter …!

Business Correspondence