Business Correspondence, Anonymous [classic reads .txt] 📗
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The rule book should help out the stenographer in the use of numbers and prices. Usage and a practical viewpoint both commend the use of figures for expressing sums of money. “Twelve hundred dollars” may be understood but it takes longer to write and does not make such a sharp image in the mind of the reader as $1,200. A common rule for figures is to spell out numbers under one hundred and to use numerals for larger amounts.
The use of abbreviations should be restricted and an inflexible rule should be never to use a man’s initials or abbreviate his given name if he spells it out. If you find by a letterhead that the one to whom you are writing spells out the name of his state it is wise to follow the trail.
The errors in punctuation found in business correspondence are of infinite variety, although a surprising number of stenographers make similar errors in using hyphens for dashes and in misplacing quotation marks. Here is a common error:
“A model No. 8,—the one we exhibited at the Business Show last week,—has been sold to a customer in New Zealand.”
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There is no excuse for the comma used in connection with the dash and yet this construction is found in letters every day.
Unfortunately most typewriters do not have a dash and so the hyphen is used, but stenographers should be instructed to use two or, better yet, three hyphens without spacing (–), rather than a single hyphen as is so frequently seen. Here is a sentence in which the girl was versatile enough to combine two styles in one sentence:
“The auto–although it was completely overhauled a few days ago–could not be started.”
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In the first place, the single hyphen gives the appearance of a compound word, and placing a space on each side is scarcely less objectionable. Insist upon two or three hyphens without spaces when a dash is wanted.
Quotation marks are another stumbling block. There is no occasion to put the name of well-known books, magazines, and newspapers in quotation marks. If you refer to Harper’s Monthly the reader will get your meaning just as well without the quotation marks. Many stenographers in writing a sentence that ends with a quoted word place the quotation mark first and the period or question mark following, as:
Johnson’s last words to me were: “I will accept your terms”.
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Put the period inside the fence where it belongs. This is a rule that is violated more often than it is observed, the confusion coming from an occasional exception where a punctuation mark has nothing to do with the quotation, as in the sentence:
“May we not send you a trial order of our “X Brand”?
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Here it is plain that the question mark should follow the quotation mark. There is no excuse for the frequent misplacing of these marks, for the quoted part of a sentence invariably shows the proper position for each mark.
A chapter could be filled with errors to be avoided—only a few of the most common ones are mentioned here. This reference to them may suggest to the heads of correspondence departments the range of points to be covered in a rule book.
Some rule books go further and devote pages to faulty diction that must be avoided and print lists of words that should not be used and words that are “preferred”.
The folding of the typewritten page usually comes in for a rule and instructions are generally given regarding corrections—whether the pen can be used at all or if letters must be rewritten.
With these rules laid down for the guidance of the stenographer, her mind is left free for other things that will contribute to her usefulness. It is no reflection on their knowledge of correct English to say that the majority of correspondents, working under high pressure, make mistakes that the stenographer must catch. It is extremely easy in dictating to mix up the tenses of verbs and to make other slips which most letter writers look to their stenographers to correct. It should be a hard and fast rule that an ungrammatical letter must never be sent out under any circumstances. Some correspondents not only look to the stenographer to edit their “copy” but to come back for a new dictation if the meaning of a letter is not perfectly clear. The thought is that if the stenographer does not understand it, there is danger of its being misinterpreted by the one to whom it is addressed.
Many rule books include a list of trade terms and phrases that the most expert stenographer may never have met with in their previous work. Legal terms are especially difficult to take down until a girl has become familiar with the unknown Latin words. This may also be said of technical terms, mechanical terms, architectural and building terms, and so forth. It is a saving of time and annoyance in many offices to have a list of frequently used words that the new stenographer can study before she attempts to take dictations.
It is not likely that any two business houses could adopt the same rules throughout. But this does not lessen the desirability of having specific instructions covering all these points, for without uniformity, the letters will not have the character, the dignity and the individuality that is desired by every concern.
How to Write the Letter That Will “LAND” the Order
Selling goods is considered the biggest problem in the business world. Hard as it is to close a deal with the prospect right before you, it is infinitely harder to get his order when he is miles away and you must depend upon a typewritten sheet to interest him in your proposition sufficiently to buy your goods. Methods that have succeeded are described in this chapter and samples of order-bringing letters are given
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The letter that is sent out unaided to make its own approach, open its own canvass and either complete a sale or pave the way to a sale may be called “the original sales letter.” There has been no inquiry, no preliminary introduction of any kind. The letter is simply the substitute for the salesman who voluntarily seeks out his own prospect, presents his proposition and tries to land an order.
Such a letter undertakes a big task. It has a more difficult mission than the personal salesman, for it cannot alter its canvass on the spot to suit the prospect’s mood. It must have its plan complete before it goes into the mail. It must be calculated to grip the attention, impel a reading, prompt a favorable decision and get back, in the return envelope, an order or at least a request for further information.
The letter that can do that, a letter so clever and so convincing that it makes a man a thousand miles away put his hand into his pocket, take out his hard earned cash and buy a money order; or makes the shrewd man at the desk take up his pen, write a check and send it for the goods you have to sell, is a better employee than your star salesman because it gets the order at a fraction of the cost. And the man who can write the letter that will do that is a power in the business world—his capacity is practically unlimited.
Original sales letters are of two kinds: those that endeavor to perform the complete operation and secure the order and those that are intended merely as the first of a follow-up series or campaign. Which to use will depend upon the nature and cost of your proposition. A simple, low-priced article may be sold with a single letter—the margin of profit may not warrant more than that. On an expensive, complicated article you cannot hope to do more in the initial letter than win your prospect’s interest, or possibly start him toward the dealer who sells your goods.
Consider first the former. You are to write a single letter and make it an attention-getting, interest-winning, complete, convincing, order-bringing medium. There is no better way to do this than to put yourself in the position of the salesman who must do all these things in a single interview. You really must do more than the salesman, but this is the best way to get in your own mind the proper attitude toward your prospect.
Say to yourself, “I am now going into this man’s office. He does not know me and does not know I am coming. This is the only chance I have to see him and I shall probably never see him again. I must concentrate all my knowledge of my proposition on this one selling talk and must tell him everything I can about it that will make him want to buy. I must say it in such a way that he will clearly understand; I must give him a good reason for buying today and I must make it easy for him to do so.”
Then picture yourself in his office, seated beside his desk and proceed to talk to him. Above all, keep in mind that you are talking to one man. No matter if your letter is to go to ten thousand people, each letter is individual. Remember, it goes to one person. So when you write it, aim directly at one person.
And see him in your mind’s eye. Get as clear an idea as you can of the class your letter is going to and then picture the average man in that class. The best way is to pick out some friend or acquaintance who most nearly represents the class you want to reach and write the letter to him. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is when you have a definite person in mind. And your letter will then be sure to have that much desired “personal touch.”
Of prime importance in this single sales letter is the close, the clincher. Your one big purpose is to get the order, and no matter how clever you may be three-fourths of the way through, if the letter falls short of clinching the order in the end, it may as well not have been written at all.
Here is an excellent example of one of these complete letters. Note particularly the summing up, the guarantee offer and how easy the writer makes it to order:
HOW TO GET A POSITION AND HOW TO HOLD IT
Is the title of a little book that business men and editors say is the most sensible and helpful thing ever printed on its subject Contains the boiled-down experience of years. Written by an expert correspondent and high-salaried writer of business literature who has hunted positions for himself, who has been all along the road up to places where he, in turn, has advertised for employees, read their letters, interviewed and engaged them—who is now with a company employing 2700 of both sexes and all grades from the $3 a week office boy to a $75 a week specialist.
HOW TO GET A POSITION AND HOW TO HOLD IT treats of what one should be able to do before expecting to find a good position; takes up the matter of changes; advises how long to
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