Write the date of the letter

Traditionally, you should put the date in the upper left-hand corner of your letter. But you can also put it at the bottom, near the signature. Many people keep letters they get for years and reread them from time to time. The recipient should be happy to remember exactly when the letter was written. Include the date, such as: “May 7, 2019.” or use numbers to indicate the day, month and year.

Write a greeting.

The beginning of the letter is called a greeting. This is where you address the person you’re writing to by name, such as “Dear Alexandra!” or “Hello, Scott!” Consider the nature of your relationship with the recipient and choose an appropriate form of greeting.
If you tend to write in a semi-formal style, use “Dear/Dear” as your greeting. It sounds typical enough, but you should think twice when calling someone “dear” because it sounds nice enough and shows you care about the other person. There is no need to put any special meaning into the greeting, but “dear” is a more appropriate title for a letter to a friend or acquaintance.
For a more informal letter, use a greeting such as “Hello, [name]!” or “Hello, [name]!” (the latter when “you” is used). This greeting is appropriate for a friend or relative, but it’s too informal to use in a business letter.
Specify a personal greeting for someone with whom you have a personal relationship. For example: “My dear [name]!”, “My dear [name]!”, or “My good [name]!”.
Be sure to end your greeting with a period or exclamation point. It is proper to begin the main body of the letter with a new line.

Start with nice things.

The first part of a friendly letter is usually warm and cheerful. This can set the tone for the entire letter, letting the recipient know what follows and the letter will sound more serious or businesslike. Write a few lines of greeting, tell a joke, or write about the weather.
“How are you?” or “How are you?” – are the most common ways to begin a letter. Ask a question to make the letter seem like part of a long conversation. If you want a response to the letter, fill it with questions.
You can use the first paragraph of the letter to ask the recipient more about his or her life.

Share news and details about your life

Now it’s time for the main body of the letter and the purpose of writing it. Why did you start this correspondence? Do you want to reconnect with an old friend, express how much you miss them, or thank them for their help? Be honest, open, and articulate.
Write about what is going on in your life. Despite the nature of the letter, your letter will be appreciated, but stories about your life will bring your recipient and you closer together. In this way, the letter will be more effective and open. Tell what happened, what emotions you experienced, and what plans you have for the future.

Choose topics that directly relate to your friend

What was your friend doing the last time you saw him or her? Maybe he broke up with his significant other? Maybe he was going through a tough time on the soccer team? Tune in by referring to familiar topics and ask questions to show your interest in your friend’s affairs.

Curtail the discussion.

Write the last paragraph, conveying your friend or loved one’s best wishes. The last paragraph is usually lighter in emotional weight, but it should match the overall atmosphere of the letter. End the letter on a positive note, so that your friend is in your mood.

End of the letter

Write an ending. It should convey the mood of your letter, depending on its tone: formal or informal. Like a greeting, the ending is determined by the nature of your relationship with the recipient. End the letter with your name.
If you want to end the letter formally, write “Sincerely yours,” “Regards,” or “Best regards.”
If the letter is written in an informal tone, use phrases such as “Your…,” “Take care,” or “Bye.”
If the letter is personal, write “Love,” “Love you very much,” or “Miss you.”

The post How to write a friendly letter appeared first on Hag&Cop-Letter.

I’m talking about people who use email as a chat room, people who think they’re too busy to think, “Will the recipient be comfortable reading what I wrote, will he understand everything from the first time or will I have to exchange 20 emails?” I’m talking about lazy, supposedly super busy people.

Sure, when you pay money for a job, the doer will patiently pry all the information out of you, even if you write 1 word per letter. But time and mutual respect will be lost, which will be bad for the work and further cooperation.

Unfortunately, the lack of respect in business correspondence is the norm now. But almost every letter is filled with pseudo-respect.

Because of such letters delivery of projects is delayed, there are misunderstandings and conflicts between the customer and the executor. And it’s all about laziness, laziness to think about the other person, put yourself in his place and look at your letter through his eyes.

We’d like to share with you a short list of “deadly” sins of business correspondence:

A letter without a subject – it cannot be found in the list of letters, it is not clear at first sight the importance and urgency (if it’s burning – always call, write in messenger mail is not for urgent tasks). If you want your letter to go without attention – do not specify the subject. Gmail will even let you know if it’s off topic, so you don’t forget to put a subject line.
Signing “Thanks in advance” is pure manipulation (great book on manipulation). Such a signature complicates the rejection, for most people it is difficult to say “no”, and with such a postscript as it is not real. In the short term you get what you want, the man will do as you say, but his attitude toward you very much spoiled.
Auxiliary materials right away – clear links to the file with the size (if a person is roaming on the mobile Internet), screenshots in the body of the letter, but not a separate link, so that you don’t have to go to another window. It should be convenient to access the material from the letter.
Carelessness – with grammatical and spelling mistakes, no greeting, the name written with a small letter. Immediately you feel irritated by the disregard for the reader.
The mistake in the name is the sweetest sound to a person is the sound of his name. If you mix it up, the person will feel very uncomfortable.
Without specifics, the letter is not structured – the essence of the letter is blurred, it is not immediately clear what the person wants from you, when and why. There is no division into paragraphs by meaning.
The use of the following phrases – “Good afternoon. “How are you?”, “Needed yesterday”, “ASAP/ASAP”, “Five minutes”, “Urgent”. And the most cruel – thank you in a separate letter – is suitable for chat, but not for mail, because the recipient will notify he will be distracted, open the letter, I think that there is important information. Phrases have no meaning, but take up space and time the reader.
I forgot to attach the file – do not forget!!! Almost all mailers already if they see the word “file” in the body of the email, they tell you about it so you won’t forget to attach it.
Adding more than 2 recipients to the letter – when you do this, all hell breaks loose and it begins to swallow all the recipients when every participant starts to respond. Remember: if there are more than 2 recipients in an email, it’s more effective to call or meet to discuss the problem.
Evaluate the work, not the person – not “you’re a bad developer” and “this is a bad site,” but “I’m not comfortable using” and “I don’t understand how to do this.”

The “Polite Letter” checklist:

• One letter, one thing to do
• Specify the subject line of the letter.
• Be specific about the urgency – include dates
• The essence in the first paragraph
• Supporting materials at once
• Complicated – break it down

The post How to write letters without being hated appeared first on Hag&Cop-Letter.

The skill of writing correct and convincing letters comes with practice. And it’s good to share what you’ve learned, thereby allowing others to avoid making the same mistakes.

1. Always have a clear idea of what you’re going to write about.
   The main purpose of a letter is to make the recipient make a certain decision. So before you start composing a letter, ask yourself again what exactly you want from the recipient? What decision should he or she make after reading your letter?

In this case, uncertainty is your nemesis. The clearer your purpose, the more persuasive your letter will be.

2. Begin your letter with your conclusion.
   Your conclusion is a statement of the decision the recipient must make based on the content of your letter.

In school, we were taught to always start with an introduction. In the case of writing persuasive letters, this statement is wrong. In the business world, everyone is too busy to judge your literary abilities. Therefore, you must get right to the point.

For example, you want permission from your superiors to install a gym in one of your company premises.

Wrong:

“Jim,
As you know, employee absenteeism is a major problem right now that has a pretty strong financial impact on both our company and other companies in our industry… blah, blah, blah… Thus, we should consider allocating money to set up a gym in our company’s main office.”

Right:

“Jim,
I want you to approve the installation of a gym in our office.”

3. Divide your arguments into several easily digestible paragraphs
   To make your arguments in support of your idea easy to read and digest, divide them into several paragraphs.

Incorrect

“According to a recent government report, physical activity groups are extremely important even though few companies demonstrate their commitment to such employee incentives. Many firms identify such groups as an undervalued asset, yet they have no plan to introduce such groups into the industry, even though fitness is closely tied to corporate and personal success. I believe that if we don’t introduce such physical groups in our company, we will be left far behind our competitors.”

Right

“An office gym will:

• reduce absenteeism
• Increase overall productivity.”

1. Support each argument with evidence
   If you write a letter consisting of solid arguments, it may be perceived as a solid personal opinion and nothing more. For each argument you need evidence. Otherwise, how do you know that it really works?

Wrong

“A gym in the office would be the right thing to do because people would rather go to work than stay home. It will also help reduce the overall sickness rate in the office.”

Right

“Reduced absenteeism. According to a National Institutes of Health survey of 1,000 firms that have gyms in their offices, employee absenteeism in those companies is 20 percent lower than in those companies that don’t have such equipment.”

5. Repeat your conclusion as a call to action
   At the end of the letter, repeat again your conclusion stated at the beginning. Only now as a call to action. In this way, you are leading your recipient to a specific conclusion he or she should draw after reading your letter. This call should be simple and specific.

Incorrect

“We would really appreciate it if you would support this project.”

Correct

“If you answer this letter affirmatively, I will immediately initiate the process.”

6. Indicate the benefit in the subject line of the letter
   The subject line in the letter is almost the most important part. Because it should anticipate the main subject line of the email and set the recipient in the mood you want. And that is why you should fill it out last, after you have written all the arguments and evidence that support your main conclusion.

Ideally, the subject line should do two important things: it should interest the recipient enough to open and read the letter, and it should encapsulate the conclusion you want the recipient to reach.

In most cases, the best way to accomplish both tasks at once is to write about the benefits to be gained from making the decision you want.

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