Today, online correspondence is one of the main ways of business communication. That is why the skill of competent communication by e-mail, instant messengers, and chats is of great value. In this material, we will consider the basic rules for conducting business correspondence and find out how to master business writing skills.
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6 basic skills of business writing
How to communicate in such a way that messages to clients, partners, and colleagues are as effective and convincing as possible? You need to master the following writing skills.
Replying to messages promptly
Try to reply to a message as soon as you receive it. If this is not possible, send a response within a business day. Some issues require urgent resolution, and ignoring them can lead to problems and downtime in business processes.
Don’t send a message after business hours, even if it looks like the recipient will only read it in the morning. If a person is resting and does not want to think about work, such a message may not cause the most pleasant emotions. In some situations, it is appropriate to use the function of the delayed sending of the letter.
Specifying the subject of the letter
The subject line allows the reader to understand what information the message contains. It gives an understanding of whether it is spam or not, how urgent and important the issue is, and what files are in the attachment. Therefore, you need to correctly indicate the subject of the letter, adding keywords to it that reveal the main essence of the message.
The words “Important” and “Urgent” in the subject line are considered bad manners. They do not reflect the meaning of the content and are easily lost among other messages. Also, do not specify the topic too generically, for example, “Agreement” and “Project.” Better to be more specific. Example: “Contract of sale Smith.”
One letter should discuss one issue or a couple of issues on the same topic. If you need to discuss something else, create a new thread of letters. This will help not to get confused in correspondence and clearly separate messages by topic.
Getting the structure right
In order for work issues to be resolved quickly and efficiently, it is worth paying attention to the structure of the message. What should the structure of a business letter look like?
- Introductory part (greeting and purpose of the message)
- The main point (problem description)
- Conclusion (conclusions and questions).
In the introductory part, it is important to address the interlocutor by name, introduce yourself and state the purpose of the letter. The main part should contain a concise and discreet description of the necessary details. In conclusion, you need to leave a call to action and indicate contacts.
After that, you should format the text of the letter, that is, divide it into paragraphs according to the meaning. You will structure your business writing easily if you wrote well-structured essays at college or asked a writing service to “write an essay for me” and received a well-written paper. If you know how to structure an essay correctly, you will deal with business writing structure much more easily.
Being polite
During work correspondence, do not forget about politeness. The message should begin with a greeting, communicate only with “Mr./Mrs.” and try to respond to each letter in a timely manner. You can not leave the question unanswered, especially if the interlocutor is waiting for it urgently.
Briefly stating the point
While reading the message, the recipient should feel respect for their time, so write short and to the point. Each problem should be described clearly and without unnecessary information. The reader should immediately understand what the essence of the issue is and what you want from them. If the answer can be accompanied by instructions or a screenshot, be sure to do so. Convey the whole essence of the message in one or two messages. You should not send 150 messages, with a few words in each.
Checking access to attachments
When preparing a letter, immediately add attachments. Often people leave attaching files to the end and then simply forget about it. Writing a second letter after the first is not entirely tactful. Before sending a message, make sure that the necessary files are attached to the letter and that other users can access them.
For attachments, it is better to use the most common document formats, such as .doc or .xls, so that the interlocutor has no difficulty viewing them. Name files according to content. If there are more than five attached files, it is advisable to use cloud storage and send the interlocutor a link.