Tips for writing better business letters

These tips and ideas are based on our experience over several years of writing letters, proposals, advertisements and direct mail.

There is a lot to think about here.

Remember that great letter writing is an art form. It's just like painting a picture. A great picture will catch your eye. It will make you want to look at it and study it in great detail. We've got to achieve the same effect but we only have words and space.

Use good paper. We have 5 senses, one of which is touch. Good paper feels good to the reader. It even sounds good.
Create a letterhead. Even though you may be producing your own letterhead, make it look real. Use a larger font and put in bold. Add a telephone number, fax number and e-mail address. Make it look business like. Put it just 1cm from the top right hand corner.
Target your audience. There's no point in writing to the world. Target those people that are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
Forget what your teacher told you. Most of the rules on grammar go out of the window. We want to appear professional but that doesn't have to mean conservative. Just forget all that old stuff about split infinitives and the like. Write as you would speak. And don't be afraid to start sentences with 'and' or 'but'.
Write to one person. Always write as if you were speaking directly with just one person.
Count 'you' and I'. You are trying to sell yourself. The only way to do that is to tell the reader about the benefits for them. You have to write the letter from their point of view. So you should have the word 'you' appearing much more than the word "I'.
Graphics. Times New Roman is the font that is most easy to comprehend. Use bold and/or underlining to draw attention to key points. The reader's eye will scan down the page looking for bits that interest them. Make it easy for them by highlighting the bits they want to see. Brackets are sometimes useful but tend to stop the flow. Italics should only be used occasionally.
Words, sentences, paragraphs. Use simple words. Use short sentences (ideally less than 12 words per sentence). Use short paragraphs (maximum 4 lines)
Keep it positive. You are the best thing since sliced bread. Tell yourself how great you are. Now make sure that this positive frame of mind comes through in your letters. You'll see some examples below of power words and clichés to avoid
Create space. Apart from your letter heading, keep a margin of about 2.5cm around the page. Breaking up your letter into short sentences and paragraphs will help.
Indents create space and interest. Experiment with different types of layout and see what works best.
- Bullet points also create focus.
- Some bullet points have a very positive psychological effect, such as ticks. Remember how good you felt when you got lots of ticks at school?
- And don't forget the opening!
- Your opening sentence is just like the headline of an advertisement. Capture people's attention with a great headline and they will read the rest of the letter.
Use spell checker. There's no bigger turn off than a letter with lots of spelling mistakes. Pay particular attention to names, addresses and postcodes.
Formality. Most of us now write to Mary or John. Older people may find this type of informality a bit rude. If you've never met before it might be better to write to Mr or Mrs. But, if they've told you to write to John Smith, then it's okay to start with Dear John.
New thinking. The way that we write our letters at Stephens & Co may seem a bit strange at first. But we know that our style really does catch people's attention. And it gets great results.

Just 2 of our customers have said that they don't like us starting with 'Good Morning'. That's fine. For those customers we've gone back to using 'Dear Mary'. Be sure to adjust your style if you find that it doesn't fit the situation.
Use their name. Always write to a person. Phone up and get a name if you haven't got one. And remember, people love to see their own name in a letter. Use it to your advantage.

You see, John. What you will get when you start using our ABC is....
Add a PS. Maybe not appropriate for a job application but a PS will get read. Make it hand written so that it seems genuine.
Quality pen. Quality signature. Use good quality pen and blue ink. A fountain pen is best. Develop a signature for your letters that is readable. This may be completely different to the signature that you use for signing cheques. We have to convey the amount of care that's gone into this letter. If your name is John Smith, then sign as John Smith.
Office layout. The modern style is for everything to be left justified. And no commas at the end of address lines or the salutation. Use 2 spaces to separate sentences.
Print it out and read it. When you read a piece on screen it may look great. But print it off and read it. Does it really work the way that you intended?
Allow time. I might take several hours over a fee proposal or 30 minutes over an important letter. Remember, you're an artist. Keep looking at your work and look for ways to make it better.
Quotations and proposal. These have their own special rules. Please do ask us for help if you want to write better quotes and proposals.

Power words that enhance your letters

Powerful
Recommended
Preferred
Performance
Superior
Benefit
Results
Guarantee
Proven
Safe
Simple
Fast
Easy
New
Time-saving
Money-saving
Discover
Profitable

Some cliches to avoid!

Avoid	Use instead
Herewith	You'll see I've attached your
Commence	Get underway, start, begin
Acquire	When you own, get
Ascertain	Discover, find out, you'll see
Endeavour	Will, try
Expeditious	Quick
Facilitate	Make it easier for you
In the event of	If
If	When
In order to	So that you'll
With regard to	About
Prior to	Before
Due to the fact that	Because
Cost, fee	Investment, budget
Contract	Paperwork, agreement