Key rules of business correspondence

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Business letters are still an important means of communication and part of business processes in any field of activity. Much depends on how you compose a letter: whether the manager will approve the task, how well the counterparty will complete the task, how quickly the client will decide on the deal. Also, almost all document flow is conducted by mail, and the more competently the official letters are designed, the better for your company. In this article, we will analyze the basic rules of business correspondence from our free online course " Oral and written communication ".


Contents of the letter
Work email is for business communication, so it is worth immediately noting those letters that should be written in an official style in email:

Letters on setting tasks.
Letters for approval of work or comments on tasks.
Letters following the meeting.
Letters for agreement, appointment, clarification of something.
Letters with documents.
Other minor issues can be resolved in a chat in messengers or during lunch.

Subject of the letter
The subject serves as an announcement for recipients and prevents the letter from ending up in spam or getting lost among other messages. The subject should reflect the brief content of the letter social media marketing service without compromising the meaning, this will help to quickly find the necessary correspondence in the future. For example: "Urgent" is better replaced with "Please urgently agree on the contract."

Addressing
In the "To" field, select those from whom a response is directly required. If there are several people in this line, then according to etiquette, everyone must give a response. In the "Copy" field, put those who should be aware of the correspondence. If you put the manager in this field, the correspondence will be more constructive, and the issue will be resolved faster.

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Greetings
Don't forget to greet the person you're writing to. A simple "Hello, Oleg" or "Hi, Marina" will put the reader at ease and improve their mood. Even if you're writing to a colleague, don't neglect the greeting.

First sentence in the letter
At the very beginning of the letter, it is important to state the main point of what you want from the addressee. If you want a colleague to make changes to a task, then in the first sentence write "It is necessary to finalize the agreement according to the comments. Write when you can complete the task." If you need help from your manager with a problem that you have already tried to solve yourself and you have accumulated a whole correspondence, then at the beginning it is worth briefly stating the essence of the problem and the actions already taken.

Spelling and punctuation
Letters with mistakes create the impression that the sender of the letter is not competent in his field of activity. Before sending a letter, carefully proofread the text, pay attention to the structure and content, which should be as clear and understandable as possible. Literate letters should be written to everyone without exception, even to your colleagues. Perhaps this letter can then be forwarded in another correspondence.

Promptness of response
If the letter is internal, it must be answered within 1-2 hours. It happens that the question may require a detailed answer that needs to be prepared. In this case, write that you need to collect materials. Letters from partners or other people outside your company can be answered within 1 business day. As a rule, they do not need to solve urgent problems with you.