Hi, Mr. Sato here. I'm going to help you write a business letter.
There are few skills you can learn in an English class that have
a more obvious, practical use than the writing of
a business letter. No matter what your career as an adult,
I promise you, you will have to write business letters.
Business letters aren't just written by people who wear suits and work
in an office. You might have to write a cover letter
when applying for a job, or write to a manufacturer to ask
that they honor their warranty for the electric scooter you bought,
or you might have to apply for a grant for your work as a fine artist.
Even in these times of electronic communications,
business letters are still hanging in there.
For this assignment, I'm going to have you write one. And I have my own
preferences, so I'll let you know if I'm teaching you
something that might be different from a textbook.
So here's what one looks like.
There's more than one style, but I'm going to teach you the block style,
because in the U.S., it has become more common
than the modified block style, which looks like this. This is
the style I learned as a teenager back in the Paleolithic Era.
See how some of the lines begin in the middle of the page?
It has a nicely balanced look.
You'll still see that sometimes, but that isn't done so much anymore.
Now, with the block style, people just make everything flush-left, like this. It's easier.
Don't indent anything.
Notice also that all of it is single-spaced with a skipped line between paragraphs.
So up top here, you have your street address, a skipped line, and the date.
This is called the heading.
It might seem logical to put your name up here, but don't.
In standard business letter format, you don't put your name here.
That goes at the end of the letter only. If you want to include your phone number
or email address, that can go in your heading too.
Next, you put the name and street address of the person you're writing to.
That's called the inside address.
Reference books I've seen say to skip one line below the inside address, but I like
two or even three skipped lines between the inside address and what comes next.
I think it sets off all this geographical information up here
from the actual content of the letter,
the part that matters most. That's where people actually start reading.
All right, so, below the inside address is the salutation. "Dear so-and-so."
If you don't know the name of the person you're writing to,
like if you're writing to the customer service department
for a big company or something, you write "Dear Sir or Madam." People sometimes
use "To Whom It May Concern," but this is kind of outdated and should be avoided.
You could also use the title of the person, like "Dear Customer Service Manager."
It would be great, though, if you could look around online a bit, or make a call,
and find the actual name of the person who will be reading your letter.
Then you can address it to the actual person,
always using the respectful honorific, like Mr. or Ms., Dr. or Sen.
But that isn't always possible, so then you have to go with "Dear Sir or Madam."
And follow that with a colon; that's these two dots here. Don't use a comma here
like you see in personal letters.
Now, skip one line and begin your letter.
The organization of a letter is like most things you'll write. It has an introduction,
a body, and a conclusion. In the introduction, don't start by telling
the whole tragic story of your broken electric scooter
before telling the reader what it is you want. In the introduction, say in just a
few words why you are writing. "My electric scooter broke last week,
and since it is still under warranty, I would like to receive a new electric scooter."
Or, "I would like to be considered for the position of video game tester."
It's kind of like a thesis in an essay.
Get to the point clearly and immediately. People are busy and will start skimming
if you get wordy. One-sentence paragraphs may not be appropriate in
an academic essay, but they are perfectly fine in a business letter.
Skip another line now, to create a second paragraph, and give the important details.
Here, too, you want to be concise. That means to say what you mean in
as few words as possible. Leave out inessential details.
For example, you don't need to say that your scooter stopped
working after you'd already gotten to your destination, so you had to carry it uphill
all the way back to your house and another kid saw you
and it was really embarrassing!
They don't care about that. Just say that the warranty says your machine is covered,
give the date of purchase, and include a copy of the receipt if you still have it;
never the original.
Or if it's a cover letter for a job, here's where you say what your main
qualifications are, and mention that your resume is attached.
This is the body of the letter.
Try to keep this down to one or two paragraphs.
And very few business letters should be more than one page.
Busy people don't have time to read a long letter.
In the last paragraph, tell the recipient of your letter exactly what you would like
him or her to do now. This is where you push your reader into doing
the thing you want.
Imagine the reader just asked, What exactly do you want from me?"
Here's where you need to be very specific.
Not, "Please do something about my electric scooter." No.
What exactly do you want this person to do right now?
Try, "Please send me instructions on how I can get a replacement
scooter immediately. Email is the best way to get in touch with me." Get it?
Clear and specific.
Not, "I really want to be considered for this job." You've already said that. Instead, try,
"I will call you later this week to make sure you got this letter.
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience." See?
Now, your reader knows you are going to politely remind him or her
about your request if he or she decides to ignore you. You aren't going away
until you get what you want. And the language I'm using is so generic that you
could copy my words exactly and it would be fine. I don't think anyone would
consider it plagiarism. I certainly wouldn't.
Then end with something polite, like that "I look forward to hearing from you"
or "Thank you for considering me for this position."
Never be rude or threatening in a business letter
unless you want it thrown in the trash can.
Now, at the bottom of the letter, there's the complimentary closing.
"Sincerely" is good. "Respectfully" is good.
There are lots of old-fashioned sounding closes, like "Very sincerely yours,"
but unless you're applying for a job in a 19th century theme park, I'd stick with
Sincerely or Respectfully. Do not use personal sounding closings, like "Love"
or "Yours truly;" the reader of your business letter is not your friend.
He or she is someone you are doing business with,
so sound businesslike unless you want to sound
all creepy and stalker-ish.
Then skip three lines, type your name, and your title, if you have one that relates
to the matter at hand. That's called the signature.
Now you're done, unless you're sending a copy of your letter to a third party,
like the Better Business Bureau. Then, you'd skip a couple of lines
and type CC: Better Business Bureau.
That'll get their attention.
By the way, CC: means "carbon copy." You can go ask your grandma what that is.
Speaking of typing, use a really conservative, businesslike font
like Times New Roman or Helvetica if you want to be taken seriously.
Never use script-fonts or decorative fonts,
which would be like a lawyer wearing Mickey Mouse ears while trying to
argue a case in court.
Now, when you print the letter, sign it in ink right here,
below the complimentary close and above the signature.
OK, so that's it for the format and organization.
It's time for you to write your letter.
First, type your heading and the date, then the inside address.
Please use this for the inside address. I'll wait.
Done? OK, so you'll be writing a complaint letter for rude service you received at a
clothing store. Here's the scenario:
You received rude service at a store called The Fashion Plate that is
located at Smithgate Mall on September 2nd.
When you asked if their poplin straight-collar shirt came in any other colors,
like red or yellow, Muffy, the salesperson, made a face and said,
"no, those colors are ugly."
When you said you liked those colors, she told you to shop somewhere else if
you didn't like the clothes at The Fashion Plate.
Muffy is the older sister of a friend of yours, and when you met her once,
she was an obnoxious twerp then too. Anyway, when you asked to
speak to the manager, she said he had the day off. You called the mall
to find out the name of the store manager, Mr. Antonio Fernandez.
So, your assignment is to write a complaint letter
to Mr. Fernandez that is likely to get results.
Remember: in the first paragraph, say why you are writing.
In the second paragraph, give only the important details. Be concise.
In the last paragraph, tell Mr. Fernandez exactly what you want him to do
about it, and end with some sort of polite comment.
Keep in mind that a brief, polite and clear letter gets better results than
a long, angry, rambling letter.
If your teacher so chooses, you could then write a letter to yourself,
from Mr. Fernandez, telling you what he will do about your complaint.
I've had students do that. It's kind of fun.
Writing a business letter can be a very empowering act.
In life, as you no doubt know, there will be people who will treat you badly
or try to take advantage of you because they're big and you're small.
A powerless person might throw a brick through the window of the store--
and get put in jail.
An empowered person has a voice and can make him or herself heard.
An empowered person figures out who has the authority
to do something about it, writes a letter,
or maybe a series of letters going up the chain of command, and gets positive
positive results instead. And that's what I want for you.
Happy letter-writing.