Business Rules
Business correspondence in the modern world is a very important type of communication in the commercial and business environment. In essence, this is correspondence in a semi-official format among enterprises of different industries. Meanwhile, a business letter must be written flawlessly in all senses: from spelling and punctuation to the meaning. Remember, in school years, teachers often said: “Diary, is it your face”? So, in a business relationship, your face is, without doubt, a business correspondence. And to make it look good, you should read or even learn the rules of business etiquette in correspondence.
Basic rules of business correspondence
The modern form of business communication has developed about a hundred and fifty years ago in England. It is from there that the rules of etiquette originate in the preparation of business letters. Then, due to non-compliance with the rules of correspondence in the world community, some countries even lost their credibility and prestige. Therefore, the clerk strictly studied all the innovations and regulations, so as not to be mistaken in the preparation of a business letter. And although today it is much easier to follow the rules of spelling and punctuation due to global computerization, sometimes you can make the text of a letter simply unreadable and incomprehensible. Therefore, make communication as easy as possible, but do not go over the line of what is permitted. If the presentation of all the necessary aspects makes the letter too overloaded with terms or simply with a large scope of topics, it is better to write another clarifying letter. Design it in such a uniform structure for all:
The name of the sender.
Date of writing.
Contact details of the addressee.
Introduction (here briefly tell about the essence of your appeal, indicate the subject and purpose of the letter. Ideally, three to five sentences are enough).
The main part, where you should put all the aspects that you want to discuss.
Conclusion (use in this part of the formula of politeness, that is, the expression of attitudes towards people).
Contact sender.
Other additions.
When writing a business letter is best to use the text editor Microsoft Word. Choose the font Times New Roman, 12-14 size and 1-2 pt line spacing, page number should be indicated in the lower right corner. As world practice shows, these are the most optimal text settings for writing a business letter. Do not forget when sending a printed copy to use company paper or at least the logo of the company – this is your business card. Take this design very carefully, because in such a simple way you will emphasize your credibility and individuality. In international correspondence, writing a letter is best in English as the most optimal for the entire world community. Be sure to stick to the business tone, especially do not use common language, because in some cases they can be regarded as verbal aggression. Depending on the degree of your acquaintance with the addressee, apply in the circulation various formations of words that express your attitude towards the recipient. For example, “Dear”, “Honorable” or even “Dear”. As much as possible, divide the business letter into paragraphs of meaning to make it as easy as possible for perception. Use the rule: the first and last paragraph is not more than five lines, the rest – less than eight. Never in business correspondence:
do not abbreviate the words that go along with the address to the addressee (for example, “head of the company” instead of “head of the company”; “uv.” instead of “respected”);
Do not address in business correspondence on “you”, it is not just incorrect, but even vulgar;
do not use ambiguous phrases and inaccuracies, also avoid overloading with “professionalism”.
At the end, write thanks to the addressee, if only for the fact that he reads your “creativity”. After receiving a response according to business etiquette, you must unsubscribe within ten days if the letter is printed, if the electronic one is no more than 48 hours later. Therefore, if you expect a response to your correspondence, check your mail as often as possible, so as not to overlook the answer.
How to make a business letter the most attractive
Yes, undoubtedly, after the passage of years, how much correspondence exists, a steady set of rules and norms of etiquette for writing a business letter has already been developed. But despite this, as the experience of well-known diplomats shows, now the effectiveness of writing business correspondence has begun to deviate from generally accepted dogmas. In this regard, developed new rules for the conduct of attractive business correspondence. MirSovetov chose the most interesting and effective of them.
The first rule. “Theme”. The first thing that catches your eye when you receive a letter is its subject. Probably, it happened to everyone that when we received a letter with the note “Re:”, “Commercial offer”, etc., we just threw the spam into the folder or deleted it.
