All business letters have a clear purpose. You need to make sure that
that purpose is explained clearly to your reader. You also need to
make sure that the reader has enough supplementary information to
understand that purpose clearly. Beyond that, anything else is
'waffle' and shouldn't be there. Aim wherever possible to fit your
letter onto one side of paper.

Many people think that they have to write in some old-fashioned style. This
may have been the case fifty years ago but it is not true now. Write
as you speak. Use short words and sentences and active, not passive,
verb forms.

Use the AIDA format from direct mailing to make your letters
interesting to read.

Attention - Attract your reader's attention by briefly stating your
purpose in writing.

Interest - Arouse the person's curiosity about what you are saying

Desire - Make your proposal sound interesting and attractive

Action - Explain clearly what action you expect the reader to take

 

It's a good idea to order your thoughts before you start writing the
letter. One idea is to make short notes of the keypoints.

Reread the letter when you have finished. Some people try to edit as
they go along and this can often cause the letter to appear disjointed
and lacking in fluency. Once you have finished, you get a chance to
take an overview of the letter, seeing what's wrong, what's missing
and what's unnecessary.

Make sure you use a spellchecker and that you punctuate your letter
properly. Where possible, get somebody else to read over your letter.
They will often find errors that you have not seen yourself.

Above all, when you are writing, keep a clear vision of the person you
are writing to in your head. You are not writing some dry academic
thesis, you are communicating to a real person.

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