Business etiquette is fundamentally concerned with building relationships founded upon courtesy and politeness between business personnel. Etiquette, and especially business etiquette, is a means of maximising your potential by presenting yourself positively.Writing a business letter is not simply a matter of expressing your ideas clearly. The way you write a letter and
etiquette you employ may have a significant impact on your success or failure in business.
Failure to observe correct business letter etiquette can result in you adopting an inappropriate tone, causing offense or misunderstandings, lack of clarity or purpose and hostility or soured relations.
The foundation of good business letter etiquette is ‘Think before you write’. You should be considering who letter is addressed to, how and why? This will then influence style, content and structure.
Here we cover some of main issues relating to good business letter etiquette:
Addressing Letter
Always make sure you have spelt recipient’s name correctly. It may sound simple, but you would be surprised at how many people fail to do so. The recipient’s name should include titles, honours or qualifications if deemed necessary.
Many people use ‘Dear Sir/Yours Faithfully’ formula when addressing receiver. Although this is acceptable for routine matters it is impersonal and should not be used when dealing with those you know, queries or complaints. With these ‘Dear Mr…./Yours Sincerely’ formula should be adopted.
Once a certain level of familiarity is reached it is not considered bad etiquette to use phrases such as ‘Kind Regards’ or ‘All best’ at end of letter.
Confidentiality
If content of letter is sensitive, personal or confidential it must be marked appropriately. Marking letter ‘confidential’ will suffice in highlighting this fact. If you only want letter read by receiver without interception of a secretary or PA, mark it as ‘Private’, ‘Personal’ or ‘Strictly Confidential’. If you have received such a business letter it is good etiquette to reciprocate and ensure that all future correspondence is kept at that level of confidentiality.
Style
Proper business letter etiquette requires that a consistent and clear approach, combined with courtesy, be employed. As a rule of thumb, aim to keep all business letters formal in style. Even when receiver is familiar to you, it is advisable maintain a certain level of business etiquette as letter may be seen by others or referred to by a third party in future.
However, this does not mean you should use long or uncommon words to express yourself. This merely looks odd and makes letter unreadable. It is best to read a letter first and consider whether you would speak to that person face to face in same way. If not, then re-write it.
