Business Letter

A commercial business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. The overall style of letter will depend on the relationship between the parties concerned. There are many reasons to write a business letter. It could be to request direct information or action from another party, to order supplies from a supplier, to identify a mistake that was committed, to reply directly to a request, to apologize for a wrong or simply to convey goodwill. Even today, the business letter is still very useful because it produces a permanent record, is confidential, formal and delivers persuasive, well-considered messages

  1) LETTERHEAD

a sheet of stationery with name and address of the organization printed at the top

2) REFERENCE LINE

"reference letter" if it is somewhat general in nature, and is not addressed to a specific requestor. Typically "letters of reference" are addressed; "To Whom It May Concern" or "Dear Sir/Madam". Or  the recipient specifically requests information, such as a job reference or invoice number, type it on one or two lines, immediately below the Date (2). If you're replying to a letter, refer to it here.For example,

Re: Job # 625-01

Re: Your letter dated 1/1/200x.

3) DATELINE

Put the date on which the letter was written in the format Month Day Year i.e. August 30, 2012. Skip a line between the date and the inside address.

4) INSIDE ADDRESS

The address of the person you are writing to along with the name of the recipient, their title and company name, if you are not sure who the letter should be addressed to either leave it blank, but try to put in a title, i.e. "Director of Human Resources". Skip a line between the date and the salutation.

5) ATTENTION LINE

 Type the name of the person to whom you're sending the letter. If you type the person's name in the Inside Address (4), skip this.

6) SALUTATION

Dear Ms./Mrs./Mr. Last Name:, Dear Director of Department Name: or To Whom It May Concern: if recipient's name is unknown. Note that there is a colon after the salutation. Skip a line between the salutation and the subject line or body. Some common salutations are

-Ladies:

-Gentlemen:

-Dear Sir:

-Dear Sir or Madam:

-Dear [Full Name]:

-To Whom it May Concern:

7) SUBJECT LINE

Makes it easier for the recipient to find out what the letter is about. Skip a line between the subject line and the body.examples are below.

-SUBJECT:  RESIGNATION

-LETTER OF REFERENCE

-JOB INQUIRY

8) BODY OF LETTER

The body is where you write the content of the letter; the paragraphs should be single spaced with a skipped line between each paragraph. Skip a line between the end of the body and the closing (COMPLIMENTORY CLOSE).

9) COMPLIMENTORY CLOSE

Let's the reader know that you are finished with your letter; usually ends with Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Thank you, and so on. Note that there is a comma after the end of the closing and only the first word in the closing is capitalized.

Complimentary Close Examples

-Respectfully,

-Respectfully yours, (very formal)

-Sincerely, (typical, less formal)

-Sincerely yours,

-Yours sincerely,

-Yours truly,

-Very truly yours (polite, neutral)

-Cordially yours (friendly, informal)

-With appreciation,

-With gratitude,

10) SIGNATURE

Your signature will go in this section, usually signed in black or blue ink with a pen.

11) ENCLOSURE

If letter contains other document other than the letter itself your letter will include the word "Enclosure." If there is more than one you would type, "Enclosures (#)" with the # being the number of other documents enclosed, not including the letter itself. Common styles are below.

-Enclosure

-Enclosures: 3

-Enclosures (3)

12) CARBON COPY NOTATION

List the names of people to whom you distribute copies, in alphabetical order. If addresses would be useful to the recipient of the letter, include them. If you don't copy your letter to anyone, skip it.

·         Example Template

[YOUR NAME]
[SENDER'S ADDRESS]
(optional[SENDER'S PHONE]
(optional[THE SENDER'S E-MAIL]

[DATE]

[RECIPIENT W/O PREFIX]
[RECIPIENT'S COMPANY]
[RECIPIENT'S ADDRESS]

(Optional) Attention [DEPARTMENT/PERSON],

Dear [RECIPIENT W/ PREFIX]:
[First Salutation then Subject in Business letters]

[CONTENT.]

[CONTENT.]


[COMPLIMENTARY CLOSING (Sincerely, Respectfully, Regards, etc.)],


[SENDER]
[SENDER'S TITLE]


Enclosures ([NUMBER OF ENCLOSURES])

cc: [CC RECIPIENT], [CC RECIPIENT TITLE]
[CC RECIPIENT], [CC RECIPIENT TITLE]