Importance of Writing Business Letters

Before delving into writing a business letter, it is imperative to understand what the purpose of such a business correspondence is. Under normal circumstances, the correspondence occurs between two commercial (organizations) entities. Other than that, an organization could be communicating with a client or another third party for one reason or the other.

The purpose behind such correspondence can be a wide array of varying reasons; to point out an error that occurred, to send a retort for some request that was made, to 2place an order for extra supplies, to express friendliness, or simply to request important information from each other.

So now with that concept understood, let us probe further and see what part form the body of a business letter; what do we consider to be the brain, the muscle, and lastly, the conclusion of a business letter. It becomes easier to understand & remember things such as where to put the date in a letter if we break it down in the parts of a business letter mentioned above i.e. brain, muscle, and conclusion.
Proper Format of a Business Letter
Brain of a Business Letter

Where is the brain located in the human body? Right at the very top. Therefore the sender’s and recipient’s particulars that we write on a business letter are counted as the brains. The information that will go here includes:

Sender’s name, sender’s address (this would of course be the business letter return address), and you also have the option of inking down an email address or phone number for the sender as well; the choice is yours for the last 2 particulars.
Following this, and after leaving a line, the date on a business letter falls into place.
Subsequently, we now require the recipient’s particulars. Much similar to the sender’s specifics, you will write down the recipient’s name without any prefix, his or her title on the next line, the organization’s name that he or she is associated with, and lastly the business address for the recipient.

Muscles of a Business Letter

With the brains out of the way, we start working on the torso i.e. the main content of the body of a business letter. The things that are to be included in this absolutely must part are:
Subject

Write the reason for the correspondence so that the recipient becomes aware what her or she is about to read about.
Salutation

Start with a polite “Dear” or “Respected” salutation. Remember, the tonality of your business letter will always remain formal. You are not writing to some friend; you are writing to a business associate and representing your organization at the same time.
Content

State the matter at hand in 1 or at most 2 paragraphs. But remember to keep it professional & formal.
Conclusion

In the conclusion you will ink down the valediction; “respectfully yours”, “wishing you a good week”, “sincerely yours”, “warm regards” etc. After leaving 1 space line the sender writes his or her name again at the end followed by his or her title within the organization. If you are sending out copies of the business letter to more than one person, you will add the “CC” portion at the very end. In the “CC” part write the name(s) of recipient(s) and his/their respective titles right in front of their respective names.

So after reading this I am more than positive that you would agree that it does not take a genius to write a business letter. All it takes is a bit of practice peppered with patience because a business letter must be flawless and absolutely immaculate.

Author's Bio: 

Ozzy Mirza is the author of this article. Visit writing tips to learn more about business letter writing.