Websters new world letter writing handbook

Letter Writing
Handbook
Robert W. Bly



Letter Writing
Handbook
Robert W. Bly


Webster’s New World™ Letter Writing Handbook
Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T

hanks to my agents, Bob Diforio and Marilyn Allen, for bringing to me the opportunity to write this book, and to my editors, Roxane Cerda, Helen Chin, and
Suzanne Snyder, for making this manuscript much better than it was when it first
crossed their desks.
Thanks also to the many organizations and individuals who gave me permission to
reprint their letters in this book.

DEDICATION
For Bob Diforio and Marilyn Allen.



TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I: Letter Writing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Prewriting Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SAP: SUBJECT, AUDIENCE, PURPOSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
GATHER INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
MAKE A SIMPLE OUTLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Twelve Rules for Better Letter Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. PRESENT YOUR BEST SELF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. WRITE IN A CLEAR, CONVERSATIONAL STYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3. BE CONCISE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. BE CONSISTENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. USE JARGON SPARINGLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6. AVOID BIG WORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7. PREFER THE SPECIFIC TO THE GENERAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8. BREAK UP YOUR WRITING INTO SHORT SECTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
9. USE VISUALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
10. USE THE ACTIVE VOICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11. ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
12. LENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
FORCEFUL TONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PASSIVE TONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
PERSONAL TONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
IMPERSONAL TONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Layouts and Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
TYPE STYLES, FONTS, AND SIZES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
LETTERHEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
OUTER ENVELOPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

STAMPS, METERS, PREPRINTED INDICIAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Letter Writing Advice from Lewis Carroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Persuasion in Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
ATTENTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
INTEREST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
DESIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Special Considerations for Writing about Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28


vi / Letter Writing Handbook

PART II: Personal Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Letters that Strengthen Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
CONGRATULATIONS LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
THANK-YOU LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
GET-WELL LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
LETTERS OF CONDOLENCE AND SYMPATHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
LETTERS FROM THE HEART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Information Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
HOLIDAY LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
PERSONAL UPDATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
FORMAL INFORMATION LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ALUMNI LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
FAVOR REQUESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
INVITATIONS TO EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
LOCAL FUNDRAISING REQUESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
REFUSING A REQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
LETTER GRANTING A REQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
LETTERS TO YOUR LANDLORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Letters that Require Special Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
LETTER OF APOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
LETTER OF COMPLAINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
MOTIVATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
GIVING ADVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
LETTERS TO ELECTED OFFICIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
PART III: Career and Employment Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Cover Letters and Job Inquiries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
EXPERIENCE-ORIENTED COVER LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
EXPERIENCE/ACHIEVEMENT-ORIENTED COVER LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
BENEFIT-ORIENTED COVER LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
CREATIVE COVER LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
RESPONDING TO HELP-WANTED ADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
INQUIRING ABOUT A JOB OPENING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
NETWORKING LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
FOLLOW-UP LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Résumés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
EXECUTIVE RÉSUMÉS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
NOVICE RÉSUMÉS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Table of Contents / vii

CHRONOLOGICAL RÉSUMÉS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
FUNCTIONAL RÉSUMÉS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

After the Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
THANK-YOU LETTERS TO INTERVIEWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
ACCEPTING JOB OFFERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
DECLINING JOB OFFERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
NOTIFYING YOUR PRESENT EMPLOYER THAT YOU ARE TAKING A NEW JOB . . . . . . 97
RESPONDING TO A REJECTION NOTICE AFTER AN INTERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Letters from Employers to Potential Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
JOB DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
LETTER TO POTENTIAL CANDIDATE AFTER INTERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
LETTER TO UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
OFFERING A CANDIDATE A POSITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Letters of Recommendation and Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
GENERIC LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
SPECIFIC LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Query Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
ARTICLE QUERY LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
BOOK QUERY LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
SCRIPT QUERY LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
PART IV: General Business Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Communicating Business Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
FYI LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
INSTRUCTION LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
DISSEMINATING TECHNICAL INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Networking Business Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
BUSINESS GREETINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
POST-MEETING FOLLOW-UP LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
CORDIAL CONTACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
INTRODUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
GIVING A BUSINESS GIFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Business Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
REQUESTS FOR BUSINESS FAVORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
REQUESTS FOR COOPERATION OR ASSISTANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
REQUESTS FOR INTERVIEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
REQUESTS FOR ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
REQUEST TO PARTICIPATE IN A SURVEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
SOLICITING A TESTIMONIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147


viii / Letter Writing Handbook

GETTING PERMISSION TO USE AN UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
RESPONDING TO BUSINESS REQUESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
REFUSING BUSINESS REQUESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Invitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
INVITATIONS TO EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
MEMBERSHIP INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
INVITATIONS TO SERVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
DECLINING AN INVITATION TO SERVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Special Requests: Sponsorship, Fundraising, and
Donation Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
FUNDING AND DONATION REQUESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
CORPORATE FUNDRAISING LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
DONATION THANK-YOU LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
REFUSING A DONATION REQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Letters of Confirmation and Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
CONFIRMATION LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
LETTER OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Tough Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
PROBLEMS WITH BUSINESS PARTNERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
MERGER ANNOUNCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
CLOSING, LIQUIDATION, AND/OR BANKRUPTCY ANNOUNCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION NOTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
VIRUS PROTECTION POLICY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
PART V: Internal Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

FYI Internal Memos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Internal Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
MAKING AN INTERNAL REQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
AGREEING TO AN INTERNAL REQUEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

REQUESTING A MEETING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
CHANGE IN EMPLOYMENT STATUS ANNOUNCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
TRAVEL NOTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
TRAINING NOTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
HUMAN RESOURCES (HR) POLICIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
TELEPHONE POLICY MEMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) MEMOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
VACATION NOTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Management Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
SALES MANAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215


Table of Contents / ix

HANDLING A DISSATISFIED CUSTOMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
WEBSITE AND OTHER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
CONGRATULATIONS TO AN INDIVIDUAL OR A TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
OFFERING ADVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
RESOLVING DISPUTES AND DISAGREEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
WARNING AN EMPLOYEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
PREMEETING AGENDAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
MEETING MINUTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Reports in Memo Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

STATUS REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
PROGRESS REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
TRIP REPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
CHANGE ORDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
PART VI: Customer Service Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Relationship-Building Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
WELCOME LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
FREE GIFTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
FREE VALUE-ADDED PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
SERVICE LEVEL UPGRADES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
HOLIDAY SEASON THANK-YOUS TO VALUED CUSTOMERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
YEAR-END ROUND-UP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
CORDIAL CONTACT LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
CUSTOMER REACTIVATION LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Routine Customer Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
“TIME TO REORDER” LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
ORDER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
NOTIFICATION OF SHIPPING DELAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
CHANGE ORDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
PREMEETING AGENDA LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
RENEWAL LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
RENEWAL NOTICE, FINAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
“POINTS ABOUT TO EXPIRE” LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
LETTERS OF INSTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Sensitive Customer Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
RESOLVING PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

INVENTORY ADJUSTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
DENIAL OF REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL DISCOUNT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
RETURNING MERCHANDISE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
REFUSING A REQUEST FOR REFUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285


x / Letter Writing Handbook

“WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU” LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
CONTRACT TERMINATION LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
FEE DISPUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
DAMAGED FREIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
RATE INCREASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
REQUEST FOR PAYMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Tips for Effective Client Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
PRIORITIZE BY CLIENT NEED, NOT YOUR NEED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
MAKE SURE ONE PROBLEM IS FULLY RESOLVED BEFORE
DISCUSSING THE NEXT ISSUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
KEEP YOUR COMMUNICATION BRIEF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
SHOW EMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
BE ENTHUSIASTIC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
KEEP ARGUMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH CLIENTS TO A MINIMUM. . . . . . . . 301
WARN CLIENTS IN ADVANCE THAT A DISAGREEMENT IS COMING. . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
AGREE TO DISAGREE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
ASSURE THE CLIENT THAT THE ARGUMENT IS NOT PERSONAL OR PERVASIVE. . . . . 302
LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE DOING THIS FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT. . . . . . . . . . . 303
ASSURE THEM THEY ARE THE FINAL JUDGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
SAY WHAT IS GOOD BEFORE YOU SAY WHAT IS BAD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
IF THE CONVERSATION IS NEGATIVE, FOLLOW UP QUICKLY WITH A

POSITIVE E-MAIL OR FAX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
FOLLOW UP IN A FEW DAYS TO ENSURE SATISFACTION OR
RESOLVE UNRESOLVED ISSUES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE TREATED IN A DISMISSIVE OR
INFERIOR MANNER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
ASK CLIENTS TO TELL YOU HOW YOU ARE DOING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
COMMUNICATE TO SHOW APPRECIATION, NOT JUST TO COMPLAIN. . . . . . . . . . . . 308
BE POLITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
IF YOU ARE DOING THE CLIENT A FAVOR, OR DOING A GOOD JOB,
LET THEM KNOW IT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
AVOID TABOO TOPICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
PLAN FREQUENT, REGULAR COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR CLIENTS. . . . . . . . . . . 313
BE AVAILABLE FOR INSTANT ACCESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
RESPOND TO CLIENTS PROMPTLY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
PART VII: Sales and Marketing Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Types of Sales Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
ALL-PURPOSE SALES LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
MAIL ORDER SALES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
CATALOG LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
SALES-BUILDING LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329


Table of Contents / xi

TRADE-IN OFFER LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
LETTERS OFFERING A PRODUCT GIVEAWAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
LETTERS OFFERING A FREE TRIAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
FREE BOOKLET OFFER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
NEW SERVICE LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

CROSS-SELLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Selling by Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
TRADE SHOW INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
SPEECH INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
REQUESTING TO SPEAK AT A MEETING OR EVENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
CONFERENCE INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
SEMINAR INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
BOOT CAMP INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
AUDIO CONFERENCE INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
WEBCAST INVITATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Generating Leads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
SURVEYS OR QUESTIONNAIRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
LIFT NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
LEAD-GENERATING LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Inquiry-Fulfillment Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
INQUIRY-FULFILLMENT LETTERS WITH LITERATURE ENCLOSED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
INQUIRY-FULFILLMENT LETTERS WITH PRODUCT ENCLOSED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
INQUIRY-FULFILLMENT, LONG-FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
LEAD INQUIRY-FULFILLMENT FOLLOW-UPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

After-Sale Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
SALES AGREEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
AFTER-SALE FOLLOW-UP LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
LOYALTY PROGRAM LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
LETTERS TO LURE BACK CLIENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
DISCOUNT OFFERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
LETTERS ANNOUNCING NEW LOCATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Nonprofit Fundraising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
FUNDRAISING LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
FUNDRAISING FOLLOW-UPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
PART VIII: Credit, Collection, and Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Billing Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
A SINGLE BILLING LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
BILLING SERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

When the Account Is in Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
THE FIRST COLLECTION LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
COLLECTION SERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402


xii / Letter Writing Handbook

PAST-DUE LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
“LETTERS CROSSED IN THE MAIL” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
SHIPMENT HELD UP FOR PAYMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
CREDIT HOLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

When the Collection Is in Dispute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
REFUSING TO PAY A BILL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE DISPUTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Working Out Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
PARTIAL PAYMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
PAYMENT PLANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
CREDIT “GRACING” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Lines of Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
EXTENDING CREDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
REQUESTING CREDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
TURNING DOWN A REQUEST FOR CREDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
CREDIT ADJUSTMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
CHANGE OF TERMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
PART IX: Vendor Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Letters Requesting Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
REQUEST FOR WHOLESALE PRICE LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
REQUESTS FOR PRODUCT AVAILABILITY INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
INQUIRING ABOUT SERVICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
REQUEST FOR PRICE QUOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Letters Expressing Dissatisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
WRITING A LETTER OF DISSATISFACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
NOTIFYING VENDORS OF DEFECTIVE GOODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
QUALITY CONTROL PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
COMPLAINT ABOUT A SERVICE PROVIDED TO YOU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
NOTICE TO SUSPEND DELIVERIES AND REQUEST FOR RELEASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Letters Regarding Bids, Contracts, and Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
CALL FOR BIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
NOTIFICATION OF WINNING BID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
LETTER OF AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
NOTICE OF REJECTED BID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
RETAINER AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
TERMINATION OF CONTRACT AND/OR AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470


Table of Contents / xiii

Letters that Strengthen the Client/Vendor Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . 471
LETTER OF PRAISE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
VENDOR REFERRAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Common or Possible Client-to-Vendor Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
REQUESTS FOR COMPLIANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
SECOND REQUEST FOR COMPLIANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
REQUEST FOR VENDOR TAX ID OR SOCIAL SECURITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
LETTER OF JUSTIFICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Letters Regarding Payment Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
VENDOR PAYMENT TERMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
WARNING OF DELAYED PAYMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
OVERPAYMENT NOTICE (REQUEST TO SUBMIT A REIMBURSEMENT) . . . . . . . . . . . 487

Other Letters to Vendors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
VENDOR GIFT POLICY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
CONFIRMATION OF ORDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
PURCHASING POLICY LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
INVITATION TO EXHIBIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
PART X: E-Mail and Fax Correspondence

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

Differences Between E-Mail and Regular Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
E-Mail Structural Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
THE “FROM” LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
THE DISTRIBUTION LIST (CC AND BCC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
THE SUBJECT LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
THE MESSAGE AREA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

Writing E-Mail Messages that get Opened and Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Reply Wisely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
DON’T REPLY TO A CORPORATE GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU INCLUDE ON A STRING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
THINK BEFORE YOU PRESS “SEND” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

Know the Emotional Connotations of Punctuation and Grammar . . . 503
Consider the Look of Your Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Internet Direct-Mail Marketing Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
HOW LONG SHOULD AN E-MAIL MARKETING MESSAGE BE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE E-MARKETING MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
THE “4 U’S”: 4 WAYS TO SPICE UP YOUR SUBJECT LINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

Where to Get Your E-Marketing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 511
Fax Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
COVER SHEETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
FAX COURTESY, LEGALITY, AND CONFIDENTIALITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515


xiv / Letter Writing Handbook

Appendix A: Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

RULES AND OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
SAMPLE FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Appendix B: Useful Letter Writing Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
ADDRESSES, ENCLOSURES, AND CC’S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
TWO POEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530
CAPITALIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
PUNCTUATION MARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
GRAMMAR GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
CLICHÉS TO AVOID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
SOUND-ALIKE WORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
TIPS ON TONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
ONLINE ACRONYMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
BIG WORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541
WORDY PHRASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
REDUNDANCIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
FREQUENTLY MISSPELLED WORDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
ANTIQUATED PHRASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
MORE ANTIQUATED PHRASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
SEXIST TERMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
Appendix C: Mailing and Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE (WWW.USPS.COM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE (WWW.UPS.COM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
FEDEX (WWW.FEDEX.COM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567


P R E FA C E

LETTER WRITING IN
THE INTERNET AGE

W

hat is the state of letter writing in the age of the Internet? Is the ability to write
clear, concise letters no longer important? Has e-mail rendered paper letters
obsolete? Is there a completely different style for writing e-mail versus on paper?
The answer is a resounding ‘No!’ The Internet has revolutionized the speed at which
we communicate, and the ease of getting your message into the hands of other people. But it hasn’t — at least not yet — dramatically altered the English language.
With the advent of e-mail, people probably write more than they used to. If anything,
the Internet has increased our preference for written communication versus verbal
(e.g., sending e-mails instead of making phone calls). That would seem to call for more
of an emphasis on writing skills, not less. In fact, recent research says that written
communications are one of the ten most important traits of leaders and successful
people.
Professionals today definitely type more than they used do. As recently as a decade or
so ago, most managers dictated or wrote by hand. Secretaries typed their letters. No
self-respecting manager had a keyboard on his or her desk. Now, computer literacy —
including a working knowledge of Word and Excel — is a basic requisite for managers.
So is English literacy: being able to express oneself clearly in simple, direct language.
There have been, in my opinion, three important changes in written communication
within the last few years affecting the art of letter writing:
First, we are universally acknowledged to be busier than we were 10 or 20 years ago.
Part of that is the relentless pressure of communications technology: beepers, pagers,
PCs, e-mail, fax machines, voice mail, cell phones, and personal digital assistants
means we are constantly bombarded with messages from people who want our attention. Because of time pressures and information overload, you have to work harder
than ever to get and keep the reader’s attention. Online marketers know that simply
changing the subject line can double response to an e-mail marketing message. How
many e-mails do you delete each day without even opening them? How many letters

do you open, read, but not respond or react to — because you are too busy?
The second major change in writing is also related to information overload and time
pressures: the shrinking of letter size. Not the size of the paper, but the size of the message, the key being: The shorter, the better. If you read books that reprint historically


xvi / Letter Writing Handbook

important letters (e.g., those of Lincoln), or books that collect the correspondence of
nineteenth-century writers, you may be struck by how incredibly elegant, detailed, and
long these letters are. The modern reader, however, has neither the time nor the
patience for long letters (with a few notable exceptions discussed later in the book).
Conciseness has always been a virtue in writing — and an enviable skill to be
acquired. Philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal is often quoted as saying to
a correspondent: “Forgive me for the long letter; I did not have time to write a short
one.” But in the twenty-first century, being concise has graduated from being a virtue
to a necessity: If you don’t get to the point quickly, and get your message across in the
fewest possible words, you’ll turn off your reader.
The third major change in letter writing is that correspondence has become less formal and increasingly conversational in style. Conversational style, like conciseness, has
also long been a virtue in writing. But the advent of e-mail has accelerated the acceptance of conversational style and the banishment of “corporatese.” We don’t get buzzword laden messages about “thinking outside the box” or “shifting our paradigms”
when we zing off our e-mails — we get right to the point: “Marketing plans are due
today at 3:00 p.m., please add information focusing on new product development.”
The sample letters in Webster’s New World Letter Writing Handbook — and the guidelines for adapting them for your own use — reflect the modern style of letter writing:
to the point, concise, and conversational. Although some can be copied merely
verbatim, more often these sample letters can serve as models on which to base your
own letters.
The specifics of your situation may require making changes — sometimes substantial —
to the sample letters in this book. But the tone, style, pace, and organization of the sample letters should help you say what you want in most situations, most of the time,
faster and with less effort than composing your own letters from scratch. After all, why
reinvent the wheel when the tires have already been perfected in the laboratory, thoroughly inspected for quality control, and field tested in thousand of situations?

INTRODUCTION

T

he right letter can make all the difference. From getting the right job to closing
the sale, from obtaining a scholarship to offering thanks gracefully, letters leave a
lasting impression. Packed with hundreds of examples that fulfill almost any goal,
Webster’s New World Letter Writing Handbook is the most modern and up-to-date reference for writing effective letters.
No one has time to craft and redraft letters from scratch. The expert guidance in Webster’s New World Letter Writing Handbook, partnered with hundreds of examples, helps
readers quickly write letters that get results.
Containing more than just cover letters and thank-you notes, this title also covers
such common correspondence as wishing congratulations, apologizing, expressing
sympathy, fundraising, asking favors, requesting and providing information, job hunting, selling, making and responding to complaints, giving feedback, refusals, or reprimands, and even collecting past-due payments.
Webster’s New World Letter Writing Handbook starts with the nuts and bolts of letter
writing but doesn’t stop there. Going beyond the essentials, this title helps you:

•
•
•
•
•
•

Craft attention-grabbing introductions.
State your case effectively.
Sway your reader’s opinion.
Close with a clincher.
Make a lasting impression.
Generate the desired response or reaction from the recipient.

Webster’s New World Letter Writing Handbook covers all the essentials with expert
guidance and offers hundreds of examples. Here’s how the book is organized:

• Part I covers such letter-writing basics as understanding your reader, achieving
•
•

•

the proper tone and style, prewriting planning, how to write clearly, and letter
format and layout.
Part II contains sample letters with guidelines for adaptation to cover personal
correspondence of all kinds, from thanking someone for a gift to expressing
condolences.
Part III deals with letters relating to your job and career. You are shown how
to reply to help-wanted ads and how to create cover letters when sending out
résumés to potential employers. Employers are given the letters they need
to communicate with potential candidates, reject unsuitable candidates, and
to write letters of recommendation and introduction.
Part IV presents letters for general business correspondence, from common
business requests and information transmittals, to handling difficult situations,
such as announcing mergers or bankruptcies.


2 / Introduction

• Part V gives you numerous examples of memos written for internal
•
•

•
•
•

communication, showing you how to instruct, educate, persuade, and
collaborate with others within your organization.
Part VI focuses on letters to customers. Special attention is given to handling
dissatisfied customers, resolving complaints, and getting customers to renew
contracts and subscriptions, or continue ordering products.
Part VII gives you letters for the sale force to use in customer contact and
prospecting, as well as direct mail letters for the marketing department. You
can use these letters to generate leads, make quotas, and gain appointments.
Part VIII is devoted to credit, collection, and billing correspondence. The
objective is to get customers to pay what they owe promptly while retaining
their business and goodwill.
Part IX gives you many model letters for communicating with your vendors.
The goal here is to get what you want, yet motivate the vendor to give you good
service and make them feel positive about doing business with you.
While the model letters in Parts I through VIII can easily be adapted to e-mail,
Part X gives guidance on writing effective online messages and formatting
e-mails correctly and for maximum open rates. Similarly, Part X covers the
special requirements of fax correspondence.

As you go through the book, you might argue that a letter found in one category or
part belongs in another. This is the natural result of the crossover between functional
areas in modern business. A customer service letter can also have a selling purpose,
while a collection letter — designed to bring back a check — also serves the customer
service function of retaining the buyer’s goodwill.
Whether for business or personal reasons, everyone has to write letters, but barely
anyone has the time to start from scratch every time. From busy executives to disgruntled consumers, everyone needs a one-stop source for quick, effective letter

writing. Now you have it in your hands. Enjoy!


PA R T I

LETTER WRITING
BASICS

W

herever you are today as a letter writer — good, bad, or indifferent — you can
take your level of skill to the next level in a relatively short time.

The benefit of doing so is that you will write more effective letters: Letters that get
your message across without the reader calling you for clarification. Letters that persuade your readers to accept your point of view, or take the actions you want them to
take. Letters that get you the results — business and personal — you desire.
In this part, we cover some rules and tools for effective letter writing. They may seem
like a lot of work right now — and maybe they will be, for now. But soon they will
become a reflexive part of your letter-writing process. You won’t have to think about
most of them; you will just use them to make your letters sharper, clearer, and more
convincing than ever.

Prewriting Planning
You would not start building an addition onto your home until you had an architect
make a drawing to show you what it would look like, would you? And a manager in
charge of a division or product line would not start marketing the products without
a marketing plan, would she?
In the same way, doing some preliminary preparation — rather than just turning on
the PC and starting to type, can help you craft better letters. Of course writing a letter is not as big a job as planning a marketing campaign or building a family room.
But it is important. As the saying goes, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”

Besides, the “planning” you do for a small writing job, like a letter, need not and
should not be elaborate or time-consuming. A few minutes spent thinking and following the steps that follow can help you write a better letter, and may actually save
time rather than take more time.


4 / Letter Writing Basics

Here are some simple steps to take when planning a letter or other communication
of any significance:
1. Do a SAP (subject, audience, and purpose) analysis as outlined in the sections
that follow.
2. Gather the information you need and do whatever additional research is required
to complete the letter.
3. Make a simple 1-2-3 outline of the points you need to cover, in the order you
want to present them.
4. Now sit down, and start writing!

SAP: SUBJECT, AUDIENCE, PURPOSE
SAP analysis is a process that quickly enables you to pin down the content and organization of your letter. The process requires you to ask and answer three questions:

• What is the subject (topic) of your letter?
• Who is your audience? (Who will be receiving your letter?)
• What is the purpose of your letter?

Subject
What is the subject (topic) of the letter? Make it as narrow and specific as possible.
For instance, “marketing product X” is too broad for a letter; you’ll need a report or
other longer document to cover it. But “approving copy for product X in our next catalog” is narrow and specific; there’s room in a letter to cover it.

Audience

Who is your reader? Well, you know who your reader is, but do you know what he or
she thinks, likes, and worries about? Or what he or she wants, hopes, dreams, and
desires? Most of us spend too much time thinking about what we want, and not
enough time thinking about what the reader wants. Written communications are
most effective when they are personal. Your writing should be built around the needs,
interests, desires, and profit of the reader. The better you understand the other person, the more effectively you can communicate with him or her.
Crafting a letter that fits the reader is relatively easy when you are writing a personal
letter to a friend or relative you know well. In the case of a business letter, it makes
sense to ask yourself, “Who is my reader? What does he or she know about this subject? What is my relationship with the reader — subordinate, superior, colleague, or
customer? How can I get the message across so that the reader will understand and
agree?” When writing business letters, here are some things you want to know about
your reader:


Prewriting Planning / 5

• Job title. Mechanics are interested in your compressor’s reliability and

•

•

•

serviceability, while the purchasing agent is more concerned with cost. A
person’s job colors his perspective of your product, service, or idea. Are you
writing for plant engineers? Office managers? CEOs? Shop foremen? Make the
tone and content of your writing compatible with the professional interests of
your readers.
Education. Is your reader a PhD or a high-school dropout? Is he a chemical

engineer? A doctor? A carpenter? A senior citizen? Write simply enough so that
the least technical and educated of your readers can understand you completely.
When in doubt, err on the side of simplicity. You will never have a recipient of
your letter complain to you that it was too easy to read.
Industry. When chemical producers buy a reverse-osmosis water-purification
system for a chemical plant, they want to know every technical detail down to
the last pipe, pump, fan, and filter. Marine buyers, on the other hand, have only
two basic questions: What does it cost? How reliable is it? The weight and size
are also important, since the system must be carried onto and bolted onto the
floor of a boat.
Level of interest. A prospect who has responded to your ad is more likely to
be receptive to a salesman’s call than someone who the salesman calls on
“cold turkey.” Is your reader interested or disinterested? Friendly or hostile?
Receptive or resistant? Understanding the reader’s state of mind helps you
tailor your message to meet his needs.

Often, however, when writing business letters and longer documents — articles, papers,
manuals, reports, and brochures — you are writing for many readers, not an individual. Even though you may not know the names of your readers, you still need to
develop a picture of who they are — their job titles, education, industry, and interests.

Purpose
What is the purpose of your letter? You might be tempted to say, “to transmit information.” Sometimes merely transmitting information is the letter’s sole purpose, but
often it is more than that. Is there a request you want the reader to comply with, or a
favor you are hoping they will grant? Keep your goal in mind as you write, so that
you may persuade the reader to agree with your point of view.

GATHER INFORMATION
In order to write an effective letter and save time in doing so, you need to have all
your information at hand, such as copies of previous correspondence on the topic,
customer records, service orders, and so on. If you don’t have all the information you

need, do the necessary research. For instance, if you are answering a technical question for a customer, and you do not know the answer, ask someone in engineering to
explain it to you. Or if you are writing a letter to your insurance company explaining


6 / Letter Writing Basics

The 3-Step Writing Process
Often when people write, they’re afraid to make mistakes, and so they edit themselves
word by word, inhibiting the natural flow of ideas and sentences. But professional writers know that writing is a process consisting of numerous drafts, rewrites, deletions,
and revisions.
Rarely does a writer produce a perfect manuscript on the first try. The task ideally
should be divided into three steps: writing, rewriting, and polishing.
1. Writing. Most professional writers go through a minimum of three drafts. The first
is this initial “go with the flow” draft where the words come tumbling out.
When you sit down to write, let the words flow freely. Don’t worry about style,
syntax, punctuation, or typos — just write. You can always go back and fix it later.
By “letting it all out,” you build momentum and overcome inhibitions that block
your ability to write and think.
2. Rewriting. In the second draft — the rewriting step — you take a critical look at
what you’ve written. You edit for organization, logic, content, and persuasiveness.
Using your PC, you add, delete, and rearrange paragraphs. You rewrite jumbled
passages to make them clear.
3. Polishing. In the third draft, you give your prose a final polishing by editing for
style, syntax, spelling, and punctuation. This is the step where you worry about
things like consistency in numbers, units of measure, equations, symbols, abbreviations, and capitalization.

why you think they were wrong in refusing to pay for your treatment, it really helps
to have all the facts in front of you — dates and costs of your exams, test results, doctors seen, and a copy of your policy, so you can reference the part that supports your
argument.

MAKE

A

SIMPLE OUTLINE

For any document longer than a short e-mail, an outline can make the writing easier
and ensure that all key points are covered. The outline also helps you keep your points
in a logical order and transition smoothly between them. A letter requesting a scholarship or financial aid, for instance, might be organized along the following lines:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Describe your educational goals and ambitions.
Explain why you need financial aid to attain these goals.
Say why you deserve to be given the aid.
Cite specific evidence (e.g., community service, extracurricular activities, grade
point average, honors and awards).
5. Ask for the specific amount of money you need.