General guidelines

The most important quality to cultivate for writing letters is empathy. Empathy requires you to 'stand in the shoes of' the recipient. How would you react to this letter if it was ad­dressed to you? It is a quality closely allied to tact and diplomacy. However there are other guidelines which you will need to bear in mind.

1. Deal with all the points raised in an incoming letter. There is always a danger in a complex letter that some of the questions raised will be unanswered.

2. Reply to letters as promptly as possible. Time is sometimes of the essence. Consider for example a letter which asks. 'In order to save myself enormous losses, should I sell my government stocks before the impending budget?' The recipient is too busy to answer before the Chancellor of the Exchequer's pronouncements so when he gets round to replying he has to write 'Yes you should have done!' Hardly the way to nur­ture clients!

3. Keep the language as simple as possible particularly when you are writing to a non-expert. At the same time do not go too far in that direction so that the recipient feels he or she is being treated as an idiot.

4. Avoid irrelevancy and triviality.

5. Check the letter carefully before it is signed and leaves the office. The letter is an advertisement for the efficiency of your business. Advertisements are supposed to make people want to be associated with your organisation but some letters have the opposite effect.

6. Avoid making promises you cannot keep, and if, for example, you agree to pro­vide certain information by a certain date make a diary note so you are reminded to act.

7. Avoid attacking other people or firms particularly by name. Your letter might be produced in court when you are charged with damaging a person's reputation (called 'publishing a libel' in legal language).

8. Be careful you are not committing your organisation to an unwanted course of action. An agreement between two parties may be enforceable at law. A contract does not usually need to be evidenced in writing but the production of a letter could support a claim to the court that a contractual obligation exists. Andrew, a car dealer, writes to a customer ‘I agree to buy your Ford motor car for £3,000’. He may then be committed to the purchase in spite of the fact that he meant to quote a price of £2,000. The larger sum was a typing error.

The basic rule of etiquette in any circumstance is to have and to show consideration for the other party. If you will just stop and think how the other person is likely to receive your communication, you will go a long way towards preventing misunderstandings and not giving offense. The simple test is: “How would I feel in these circumstances, if I received this message?”

Communicating by e-mail is no different from writing on your company letterhead. A business communication is business, period. A certain degree of formality is required. Just because e-mail tends to be more immediate and personable, it doesn't need to get personal.