Correspondences concerning transactions and requests between offices, agencies, businesses,

partners and clients, always need to have a professional undertone. Though not always required
to be structured and overly formal, there are certain things that should always be kept in mind
whenever any person writes business correspondences.

I. Top 10 Skills to Master in Effective Business Writing

Business writing doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, it can be a great test of your writing skills and
how well you can share your ideas. As you look to hone your business writing skills, here are the
top 10 skills you should practice:

1. Defining Your Purpose

Don’t just sit down and start writing right away. Instead, you need to think about what you’re
writing, and why. What is your purpose for composing this document? By defining your purpose,
you’ll have a better understanding of what to write.

2. Clear and Concise Language

One of the biggest differences between business writing and other types of writing is that it needs
to be concise. You don’t want to use fluff to take up more space.
As a good rule of thumb, don’t use three words when you can say something in one. Less is
definitely more when it comes to business writing skills, but you need to make sure that
your ideas are clear to your reader, too.

3. Writing for Your Audience

Keep your reader in mind as you write. Think about what they know already, especially as you
determine the terminology to use. If you’re writing to a specific person or group of people, look
for ways to personalize the document by considering their interests.

4. Conversational Tone
When writing for business, people typically choose a more professional tone. Depending on the
document you’re writing, however, a conversational tone may be preferred. Especially when
you’re communicating with consumers, your writing should feel like a person wrote it, not a
robot. Using a conversational tone helps your readers engage with what they’re reading and
connect with you.

5. Organization
It’s important to think about the organization of your paper. How will you determine the order
of your ideas? Remember that with business writing you should give the most important
information first. Since most people will read the first paragraph before deciding whether or not
to read the rest of the document, place your most important points in at the beginning.

6. Word Choice
As an expert in your field, it’s easy to throw in jargon and buzzwords without even thinking about
it. Before you do this, think about your audience. What words will your audience know? Try to
use simple words that everyone reading your work will understand.

7. Active Voice
Using active voice strengthens your credibility and adds power to your ideas. The opposite
of active voice is passive voice. It tends to use more words to say the same thing, weakening your
statements. For example:
 Passive voice: If you have any questions or concerns, we can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
 Active voice: If you have any questions or concerns, call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
 Passive voice: The report will be reviewed by the manager for errors and steps will be
taken to correct any issues right away.
 Active voice: The manager will review the report for errors and take the steps to correct
any issues right away.

Although you may use passive voice at times, try to use it sparingly. Focus on using active voice
to improve your business writing skills.

8. Facts Over Opinion

To build your credibility in your industry, try to refrain from infusing your opinion into your
writing. Stick to the facts with statistics, data, and benefits of your products or services.
Also, watch out for hyperbole. Readers have a difficult time trusting you when you use hyperbole
to get a point across. So, stick to the facts while still making your writing interesting and
compelling to your readers.

9. Adapting for Different Platforms

There are many different platforms for your business writing, including web articles, blog posts,
social media posts, and video scripts. If you’re planning on writing for these different platforms,
you need to learn the techniques and tricks needed for each one.

10. Grammar and Punctuation

And finally, never publish, print, post, or email any document until you’ve proofread it. Make
sure that your writing is error-free before it gets in the hands of your customers, clients,
investors, and others. Bad grammar and punctuation errors will make a bad impression and
reduce your credibility. If you struggle with grammar and punctuation, send your work to
someone who can edit it for you.

Mastering these 10 business writing skills will help you improve your writing skills and impress
those with whom you communicate. Take the time to practice and review your work to ensure
that you’re conveying your ideas in the best ways possible.

II. Common Mistakes in Writing Business Correspondence:

Whether you own or work for a big company or a small business, you are bound to uphold a
professional image. Your company image is also affected by your business letters.

Your emails and proposals go to potential investors and potential clients and because of the
importance of these documents, you should write as professionally as you can.

Remember that the more work you put in, the more you benefit you get out. Whenever you have
to write a business document, analyze, plan and execute and do not release or send letters that
aren’t proofread.

This may seem like a daunting task, but here are some best useful tips on how you can achieve
this.

Failing to make a good impression

Don’t have the mentality of just writing the letter and passing on the information but spend time
on making your letter make a good strong impression. If your readers are not intrigued from the
beginning, your document might not serve its purpose and may just be tossed away.

To avoid this, write an interesting introduction and make the reader see the importance of your
letter. Don’t forget the conclusion as well. If your conclusion is good enough, it will leave a long-
lasting effect on the reader.

Poor planning
Don’t be tempted to underestimate the power of planning and because of tight deadlines, you
may be tempted to start writing instantly before planning their document carefully.
During your planning, consider these questions: Who is this document intended for? What
information does this person expect to get from this document? How can I make sure the reader
understands the context clearly?

After asking yourself those questions, you may want to write the answers down so you can refer
to them while you write.

Appealing to the masses

Writing a business letter with a generalized audience can be a detriment. On the contrary, having
a specific target audience and writing for it specifically will improve the impact your letter will
have.

The reader will feel the significance he has and will be more prone to support your company. If
you are unsure about your target audience, it will be helpful to do research about it during the
planning process and then execute your letter on your findings.

Complicated jargon
Based on your target audience, use language that will be simple for them to understand and
avoid using big words unnecessarily.

Simple understandable English written in the correct format, grammar and free of any typos or
slang will benefit you and the reader. Do not try to appease the audience by trying to flash your
vocabulary to them.

Too much text

Your goal should be making your document as easy-to-read as possible so you should space your
lines and avoid writing lengthy sentences. Use visuals like graphs, charts, images etc. if possible
and leave some white space so the reader can read the content without a struggle.

The appearance of your document is also just as important so you should use the correct font
and choose the font size wisely. Sans Serif fonts make your document look better and make it
easy to read.

Being Vague
Be specific and write the necessary statistics whenever it’s possible. Avoid using non-quantified
sentences like “The Company made a lot of profit” but rather specify in detail the amount of
money the company made. Write accurate statistics if you are unsure about them research them
in other company documents or other trusted sites.
Conclusion
Think about the effect a business letter will have on the business and how your writing skills can
bring in more business for the company. Also, do not procrastinate when you receive the task of
writing a business letter, report or proposal. Start with it as soon as possible so that you can have
enough time to prepare for your task and to double check everything.

References:

https://magoosh.com/pro-writing/business-writing-skills/

http://foundersguide.com/writing-business-
letters/#:~:targetText=Grammatical%20and%20punctuation%20errors&targetText=After%20wr
iting%20a%20business%20letter,checker%20to%20avoid%20punctuation%20errors.

MODULAR ASSIGNMENT

1. Draft a business letter applying the tips mentioned in this module.

2. Record a video of yourself discussing how your business letter was drafted using
the tips indicated above. If the video file is too large to be sent via email, send me
instead an upload link where I can view the said video (either on youtube, google
drive, facebook, etc.)