Writing business letters usually means you want the reader to take some type of action. This is called persuasive writing.
Keep in mind that the basic principles of business writing also apply to persuasive writing.
First you need to know what you want the reader to do before you start writing. Think about your major points and get to the most major point in the first paragraph. You want to begin and end the letter with a call to action. Let the client know specifically what you can do, and exactly what you want the client or prospective client to do.
You want to address the letter to a specific reader whenever possible. If not possible, imagine you are writing to a specific person when you compose the letter.
Anticipate the reader’s questions and respond to those questions in your content. Anticipate as many objections as you can and respond to those.
Write naturally without being cute or flowery or using technical babble. Write like you talk and keep the letter short and interesting. People are interested in other people, but no one wants to wade through long sermons.
On the other hand, be concise but don’t confuse conciseness with brevity. Conciseness means using the fewest words possible to make your point convincingly. For instance you may need to use an example to fully explain a point you made.
If you’re writing a letter of complaint or disagreement, avoid alienating the reader with anything that sounds accusatory, self-righteous, or anything that may prevent results. Be positive and tactful.
Be positive and avoid sarcasm.
Don’t be afraid to take a strong stand on an important issue. Taking the time to write a letter usually means you care deeply about this issue. Use facets and data to support your side of the story.
You may want to quote someone in your letter that will lend more support. Do it carefully and don’t use anything from Barlett or any other book of quotes. For instance you may write: “A net growth of eight per cent of increased clients for the second quarter” is the projection I’m hearing from the Scholarship Committee. Show that there is a humanity to your organization that is also a fact.
These tips are not difficult to include in your letter writing tasks and should make your letters more persuasive. Let me know what kinds of results you get from making any of these changes. You can describe the results in ‘Comments.’
Much success in your persuasive letter writing.
Ruthan
Ruthan Brodsky
Copywriter and Content Creator
Business Writer
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