The following steps of should be followed in writing a business letter.
- Proper planning: The first step in writing a business message is planning. This is the rewriting stage in which we think our writing project and develop a plan for doing it. The writer of the business letter should properly thinking and planning regarding what, when, whom, and how to write the letter.
- Setting purpose: Before writing the business letter, the writer should select the main purposes of the letter.
- Determine the scope of subject: The writer of the business letter should determine the scope of the messages. Here, scope refers to what the writer wants to know and what the writer wants to convey.
- Gather relevant facts and information: The second step in writing a good business letter is to get all the information we need. For this purpose, we should consider.
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- Past correspondence
- Consulting with others
- Getting sales record
- Warranties and product descriptions
- Inventory records and so on.
- Analyzing and organizing information: In this step, we analyze and organize the information that has been collected in step-2. If we predict to the reader will react to our message positively or even neutrally, we will usually organize the message in a direct plan. Direct plan means to without any opening explanation or introductory remarks.
On the other hand, if we think that the reader will react to the message negatively, we should write the message in indirect order.
- Knowing and evaluate the readers: here, the writer should know and evaluates the reader’s knowledge and level properly.
- Determine the approaches: The writer should also determine any of the following approaches for analyzing and organizing the information within the letter.
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- Direct approach
- Indirect approach
- Persuasive approach
- Selecting the format: After determining the approaches the writer should select any of the following formats:
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- Indented style
- Full block style
- Hanging style
- Outlining the contents: Here, the writer should outline the contents into convenient part and paragraphs of the letter.
- Writing the first draft: After outlining the contents of the messages, writing the first draft of the letter as rough.
- Editing: In this step, the writer should properly read again and again of the letter to find out the grammar, spelling and other careless mistakes for corrections.
- Writing the final draft: In last step, the writer should write the final draft after editing of the letter.