Business Correspondence, Anonymous [classic reads .txt] 📗

*

In spite of the fact that each man was frankly told that 49,999 other persons were receiving the same letter, the appeal was as personal as an individual message. Another writer opened his communication in this way:

“This letter is to YOU. and it is just as personal as If I had sat down and pounded it off on the typewriter myself, and I am sure that you, as a business man, appreciate that this is a personal message to you, even if I am writing a hundred thousand others at the same time.”

*

This letter struck a popular and responsive chord, for each reader took it to himself as a frank, honest appeal, from a frank, honest business man. It was a direct personal communication because each reader felt that although it was duplicated a thousand times it nevertheless contained a live message.

But the care that some writers take to make the form letter look personal, is the very thing that kills it. They make the letter too perfect. To avoid this result, leave an imperfect word, here and there, throughout the body of the letter. Watch the setting up of the type to be sure the lines are not spaced out like a printed page. Many correspondents imitate the common mistakes of the typewritten letter from the mechanical standpoint and in the language.

Time spent in correcting these errors with pen and ink is usually considered a paying investment. The tympan of the duplicating machine is sometimes made uneven so that the impression of a typewriter is still further carried out. Some duplicating machines advertise that their type print “loose” for this very purpose. A favorite scheme with firms where letter presses are used is to blur the letter slightly after it has been filled in and signed. A word “XXX’d” out as by a typewriter lends an impression of the personal message, as does also the wrong spelling of a word, corrected by pen and ink.

But fully as vital to the individuality of the letter is the manner in which it is closed. The signature of the form letter is a subject that deserves as careful consideration as the superscription and the body of the letter. The actual typewritten letter to Henry Brown is signed with pen and ink. Even where the name of the company also appears at the end of the letter, the personal signature in ink is desirable. And when you write all the Henry Browns on your mailing list, you should apply the pen-and-ink signature to every letter. That is the only effective way.

It is not so essential that the signature should be applied by the writer personally. Often a girl writes the signature, saving the time of a busy department head. Many firms use a rubber facsimile stamp for applying the signature, but it is not as effective, for it is seldom that the stamped name does not stand out as a mechanical signature. One concern adds the name of the company at the bottom of the letter and has a clerk mark initials underneath with pen and ink.

The form letter has a heavy load which carries a row of hieroglyphics at the bottom of the page—the “X-Y-Z,” the “4, 8, 6,” the “Dictated WML-OR” and the twenty and one other key numbers and symbols common to the form letters of many houses. When a man receives such a letter, he is impressed by the mass of tangled mechanical operations the message has undergone; on its face he has the story of its mechanical make-up and its virility is lost, absolutely.

Then consider the various notes, stamped in a frankly mechanical manner at the bottom of the letter, such as, “Dictated, but not read,” “Signed in the absence of Mr. So-and-So.” To the average man who finds one of these notes on the letter, there is the impression of a slap in the face. He does not like to be reminded that he may converse with the stenographer in the absence of the president. When a letter says “Not read” he feels that the message was not of sufficient importance to warrant the personal attention of the writer. Eliminate all such notes from the form letter.

Sometimes a postscript may suggest a note of personality. For instance, one firm writes underneath the signature: “I want you to look especially at the new model on page 37 of the catalogue.” This is effective if done with pen and ink, but if printed or stamped, it gives no additional tone of individuality to the letter. One manufacturer had a postscript written on an extra slip of paper which he pasted to the corner of the sheet.

Another concern writes out on a piece of white paper the blue-penciled postscript: “I’ll send you this three-tool garden kit free (express prepaid) if your order for the patent roller reaches me before the 5th.” This is made into a zinc etching and printed in blue so perfectly that the postscript appears to have been applied with a blue pencil.

Still another postscript scheme is to write the form letter so that it just fills the first page, then to dictate and sign a paragraph for a second page—a most effective plan.

Then you must consider the enclosure that often goes with the letter. This frequently stamps it a circular. If you are offering a special discount or introductory sale price, for instance, it would be ridiculous to say in your letter, “This is a special price I am quoting to you,” when the reader finds the same price printed on the circular. Print the regular price, and then blot out the figures with a rubber stamp and insert the special price with pen and ink, or with a stamp.

If you offer a special discount it is best to say so frankly:

“I am making this special discount to a selected list of a few of our old friends. And in order that you may be sure of this discount I am enclosing the discount card which will entitle you to the special prices.”

*

[Illustration: A series of letterheads that illustrate various uses of the product and so not only vary the appearance of successive letters but afford good advertising.]

[Illustration: For different departments, to handle different classes of correspondence or simply to vary their follow-up, varying letterheads are used.]

*

The discount card should be filled-in with the name of the person written and stamped with a serial numbering machine. The date the special offer expires should also be stamped on the circular. In making a special offer to a “limited number of persons,” the enclosure describing it and the return order blank should not be too elaborate or carefully prepared. It is more effective to make them inexpensive and give a careless appearance. Aim to carry the impression that with a hundred or so you could not afford to do it better.

Do not let an opportunity pass to give the enclosure the same personal touch that you aim at in the letter. Some houses even sign the reader’s name to the card. A pencil or pen mark over some particular feature of the enclosure is another way to suggest personal attention.

Refer to the enclosure in a way that indicates individual attention. A correspondence school takes off the weight of the overload of enclosures by inserting this paragraph:

“So in order that you may properly understand our proposition I am enclosing these circulars and application blanks. It is impossible to tell one whole story in a single letter, or even a series of letters. To make them perfectly plain I have asked my stenographer to number them with a pen, and I will refer to them in this letter in that order.”

*

A manufacturer who has succeeded in the mailorder business turns down a page in his catalogue, and refers to it in this way:

“I have turned down the corner of a page—39—in my catalogue that I particularly want you to read. On this page you will find pictured and described the best value in a single-seated carriage ever offered to the public. Turn to this page now and see if you can afford not to investigate this proposition further.”

*

A successful campaign prepared by a wholesale house consisted simply of a letter and a cheap-looking yellow circular, across the top of which had been printed with a typewriter duplicating machine this heading:

“There is no time to prepare an elaborate circular—the time limit set on this offer is too short.”

*

This idea was further strengthened by additional typewritten notes on the top and sides of the circular. The special offer and order blank appeared in typewriter type on the back of the circular.

Another scheme which pulled results for a tailor was this typewritten postscript:

“The enclosed is a circular letter. If I sent it to you without this personal note, I fear you would be too busy to give it the attention it deserves. So I ask you now—in justice to your interests—to read this circular as carefully as if I had put the whole thing in a personal letter to you.”

*

It is an easy matter to enclose a few typewritten names, so a paper manufacturer says in his answer to an inquiry:

“I’m sending you a list of the printers in your immediate vicinity from whom you can secure our bond papers.”

*

A land concern refers to an enclosed list in this way:

“So you can investigate for yourself just what our proposition will do for you, I am having my stenographer make up a list of a few purchasers in your vicinity from whom you can secure first hand facts.”

*

Another concern typewrites the note “Personal Matter” on the enclosed return envelope to give added individuality to it. Thus the return envelope contributes to the general impression of the one-man message. But whether it is the superscription, the body of the letter, the closing or the enclosure, there is one general principle that must be followed: first consider how you would handle the individual letter, then make the form letter similar. Make the form letter talk as though it were intended for one man. Keep this rule in mind and your form letters will pull.

Making Letterheads and Envelopes DISTINCTIVE

PART IV—THE DRESS OF A BUSINESS LETTER—CHAPTER 12

The dress of a business letter reflects the character and the standing of a house no less than the dress of its personal representative. The quality of the paper, the kind of printing or engraving, the mechanical make-up—all these things contribute to the IMPRESSION a letter makes upon the recipient even BEFORE THE MESSAGE IS READ. Many letters come to nothing because their dress is unattractive, cheap, slovenly; and so progressive business men are learning to select their stationery with care to insure for it both tone and dignity. The kind of paper to select—the size, the tint and the quality—is described and explained in the following chapter

*

The first impression created by a business letter is based upon its outward appearance—upon its mechanical make-up, the quality of its paper, the grade of its printing or engraving; upon the superficial qualities that are apparent at a glance.

The