ADDRESSING ENVELOPES

The three important requirements of envelope addressing are accuracy, legibility, and good appearance. Examples:

40 mm

The secretary, Percy Astins&Co. Ltd. 18-22 Kings Avenue RICHMOND Surrey Confidential TW6 1SJ

40 mm

The secret Percy Astins&Co. Ltd. 18-22 Kings Avenue RICHMOND Surrey

1. Begin the first line about half way down the envelope, leaving at least 40 mm of clear space for the post mark. 2. Type your correspondents name exactly as he uses it himself and be sure to spell it correctly. 3. Type in double line spacing using either indented or the blocked form of lay out. 4. Dont abbreviate such word as ROAD, STREET, AVENUE. It more helpful to the Post Office when they are typed in full. 5. Type the name of the town in block capitals and add the name of the county of region. 6. In general the name of county is necessary to facilitate sorting, but it may be omitted from addresses of large and well-known cities and towns. 7. Add the postcode on a separate line at the end. 8. Type such words as Personal and Confidential in the bottom left hand corner. 9. Use the envelopes within the limits of the standard international sizes to help mechanical sorting.

RSVP may refer to:

RSVP (invitations), request for responses

Etymology From the French RSVP, rpondez s'il vous plat, meaning reply please or "please respond".

Some Rules of Good Writing

1. Think first of the reader and address yourself to his interest. The letters you send out must create a good first impression. To achieve this, put yourself in your readers shoes and try to imagine how he will feel about what you write. Try to imagine that you are receiving rather than sending the letter and emphasize that You attitude rather that the I or We. 2. Adopt a tone suited to the occasion and the purpose of the letter What do I want this letter to do? Then, express yourself accordingly, being persuasive, apologetic, obliging, firm, and so on depending on the effect you want to produce. 3. Write naturally Say what you want to say with sincerity and make sure that it sounds sincere. Express your own words and in your own way. Be yourself.

Instead of

Say

I have pleasure in informing you. We do not anticipate any increase in price Please favor us with an early expression of your views

I am pleased to tell you (or to say) We do not expect prices to rise. Please let us have your opinion soon. Please tell (or inform) us.

Please be good enough to advise us

4. Write clearly to the point. Keep your sentence short and avoid the over frequent use of such conjunction as and, but, however, consequently, the effect of which is to make sentences long. 5. Write courteously and make your letter sound friendly. Courtesy consists not only in using polite phrases. It is the quality that enables us to refuse to perform a favor and in the same time keep a friend. To refuse a customers request for credit without killing all hope of future business. Answer the letters on the day you receive them if you can. If you cannot answer at that time, write and explain why and say when you will write again. Try to understand the correspondents point of view, if his suggestions are stupid and his criticisms unfair, reply with polite manner without giving offence. Even if he sends you a rude or sharp letter, resist to answer the letter in a polite way. If you do the same thing, it means you also lower your dignity. 6. Avoid wordiness. Use no more words than are needed to make your meaning clear.

Instead of

Say

Please see that an enquiry is conducted to determine the reason. We express our regret at being unable to fulfill your order on this occasion with our customary promptness. We are writing with reference to The information is needed in connection with We shall be in position to In the course of the next few days He was granted a loan of 50 poundsterling by us

Please find out the reason.

We are sorry we cannot meet your present order immediately. About For

Able During He granted him a loan of 50 poundsterling Watsons will pay their account next month.

Payment of their account will be made by Watsons next month

7. Avoid commercial jargon

Instead of
Adverting to your favor Re The writer wishes to acknowledge OR

Say
Referring to your letter

Thank you for your letter

We are in receipt of We beg to acknowledge We have received

We have to acknowledge

We beg to inform you We beg to thank you Your esteemed favor to hand Your letter to hand Yours to hand

We are writing to inform you We thank you

We have received your letter

The favor of your early reply will oblige

I shall be glad to hear from you soon

Miscellaneous
As per At your earliest convenience Enclosed please find Idem, inst, prox, ult It is within our power It will be our constant aim Of even date Only too pleased to Per according to as soon as you can I (We) enclose name of the month if we can we shall try of today very glad to by

Please be good enough to advise us Take into consideration Under consideration Your good self
8. Write effectively.

please tell us consider being dealt with you

a. Use simple language Business writing ---------- a plain style- a style that is SIMPLE, CLEAR and EASILY UNDERSTOOD. Accomplish ----------- do Approximately ----------about Communication --------- letter Purchase ------------- buy Request ------------- ask Require ------------- need Terminate ------------ end Utilize ---------------- use

Prefer the single word to elaborate phrase Will you be good enough to ------ please In the near future ------------------- soon At the present time ----------------- now Come to a decision -----------------decide Express a preference for ---------- prefer For the reason that ----------------- because

b. Be consistent Avoid repeating in the same sentence an important word with different meaning. How do you account for the fact that the account is wrong? (say explain the fact) Please quote your best price for your best quality coal! (say lowest price)

c. Be precise. d. Use concrete words Use concrete words ---- words that denote material things rather than abstract words

9. Avoid monotony. 10. Write to a plan 11. Pay special attention to the opening and closing paragraph. 12. Check your letters.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS IN A BUSINESS LETTER 1. REFERENCES Reference numbers and letters enable replies to be linked with earlier correspondence and ensure that they reach the right person or department without delay.

Your ref : Our ref :

It can be placed in: The upper left hand corner of the letter, in the line with date In the lower left hand corner Examples: Your ref : Dep B/4 Our ref : LW/PB 526 It also can be placed in your letter:

Dear Sir Thank you for your letter, reference ALW/PS, of 15th September.

2. SUBJECT HEADINGS It summarizes the theme of the letter and helps to ensure that the letter is passed without delay to the right person or department. There are two cases in which a subject heading should always be used: a. Where your correspondent himself had used one (your reply should then carry the same heading) b. Where correspondence on a subject is considerable, or likely to become so.

The heading is typed immediately below the salutation:

Dear Sir

Alterations to Warehouse 3. FOR ATTENTION HEADINGS These headings are used when it desired to address a letter to a particular member of an organization.

Examples: The Secretary The Ajax Electrical Co Ltd Fernhall Drive REDBRIDGE Essex 1G4 5BN

For the attention of Mr. T Waterhouse

Dear Sir

4. ENCLOSURES The method in using enclosure: a. Write the ENCLOSURE label to the letter in the top or bottom left hand position b. Type the word ENCLOSURE with a figure indicating the number of enclosure if there are more than one c. Type horizontal line on the left hand margin immediately opposite the lines that mention the enclosure.

July 20, 2009 Mr. Rodney Giles Manager, Customer Support Inter-Office Solutions Inc. 1289 Luxor Station Rd. Cedar Springs, IL, 34985 Dear Rodney: This is further to our meeting of last week at which we agreed to hold a series of meetings over the next two months to review your experiences with the pilot implementation of the 1to1 Customer Relationship Management Program. As discussed at that meeting, the objectives of our review sessions will be to:

Review and assess the overall effectiveness of the program; Identify and document strengths weaknesses of the program; Propose customer-focused solutions to address areas of weakness; Develop an approach and action plan for Phase 2 of the project; Determine the staff members who will make up the Phase 2 Team.

As agreed, meetings will be held every second Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. until noon, and the location will alternate between our two offices, the first one to be convened here at Inter-Office on August 14, 2005. Fred Johnson of your CRM group is to act as the meeting co-ordinator and recording secretary throughout the process.

As discussed, at the end of the process, Deborah Buxton of Consultek will draft the summary report for review by the steering committee. As you requested, a copy of her c.v. has been enclosed. I trust I have covered all of the points that we discussed. If you have any questions or would like to add anything please give me a call at 745-9878. We look forward to seeing you at the August 14th meeting. Sincerely,

Marilyn French Senior Consultant Enclosure

July 20, 2009 Mr. Rodney Giles Manager, Customer Support Inter-Office Solutions Inc. 1289 Luxor Station Rd. Cedar Springs, IL, 34985

Dear Rodney: This is further to our meeting of last week at which we agreed to hold a series of meetings over the next two months to review your experiences with the pilot implementation of the 1to1 Customer Relationship Management Program. As discussed at that meeting, the objectives of our review sessions will be to: Review and assess the overall effectiveness of the program; Identify and document strengths weaknesses of the program; Propose customer-focused solutions to address areas of weakness; Develop an approach and action plan for Phase 2 of the project; Determine the staff members who will make up the Phase 2 Team.

As agreed, meetings will be held every second Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. until noon, and the location will alternate between our two offices, the first one to be convened here at Inter-Office on August 14, 2005. Fred Johnson of your CRM group is to act as the meeting co-ordinator and recording secretary throughout the process. As discussed, at the end of the process, Deborah Buxton of Consultek will draft the summary report for review by the steering committee. As you requested, a copy of her c.v. has been enclosed. I trust I have covered all of the points that we discussed. If you have any questions or would like to add anything please give me a call at 745-9878. We look forward to seeing you at the August 14 th meeting. Sincerely,

Marilyn French Senior Consultant

EXERCISE:

1. The writer will be glad to call on you next Monday. I will be glad to meet you next Monday. 2. A copy of our latest catalogue is being sent to you today. I will send our latest catalogue today. 3. Delivery of the goods can be made in three days time. I can deliver the goods in three days.

4. We trust our proposal will meet with your approval. We believe our proposal will be approved. We believe that you will approve our proposal.

5. Please favor us with an early expression of your views. Please give us your opinion soon.