FURNITURE HOME: The Business Letter Format

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Business Letter Format - Writing the Best

A business letter consists of:

• Sender’s address
• Date
• Address
• Salutation
• Body

Sender’s address

The business letter starts with the sender’s address. The address of the sender is always included in the letterhead. If the person is not using letterhead, then include the address of the sender on top of the letter above the date. The name of the sender and title are included in the closing parts of the business letter. Just write down the city, zip code and address of the street.

Date placement

The date line highlights the date of the letter, when it was written. If the business letter was finished in a number of days, then write the date, it was completed on in the date column. The American date format is used as long as the American jobs are concerned. The date is written in between the year and month. The format of the business letter also depends in this case. Use the date according to the appropriate format.

Address inside

The inside address is that of recipient’s. It is best practice to write to the particular person at the company to whom you are writing. If the name of the person is not available, then it should be sought out by contacting the workplace, he is in. Also, include a Mr., Mrs., Ms. or Dr.

Use the Dr only, when the person is a doctor or a PhD for that matter. Also, people will prefer a higher title, than they probably hold. Keep in mind the US Post office format for writing the address.
For the address, which is international, the capital letters are used for a country. For international address, the address is written one line below the sender’s address.

Salutation

The name used should be same as the inside address. The personal title also must be same. If you know the person well, then use first name. It is acceptable to use the first name, if you are on a first name basis. After name, use a colon. Leave one line blank after salutation. ( Just like in business plan template )

Body

Leave a line blank after every salutation. Conciseness is very important, while writing a business letter. Open the letter in a friendly manner. The next paragraph should define the point to be mentioned and the consequent paragraphs should keep squaring the point.

The format can vary a bit according to each country’s format.