The Appearance and Design of Business Messages Lecture 8 The Appearance and Design of Business Messages

Business Letters The medium used most often for written messages to persons outside your organization is the business letter. Your letter’s appearance conveys nonverbal impressions that affect a reader’s attitude even before that person reads the letter. The many type styles and formats of modern word processing systems and printers can enhance the appearance of your message and create a positive impression. Elements of appearance that help produce favorable reactions are appropriate stationary and correct letter parts and layouts.

Business Letters (cont’d …) Stationery and Envelopes Stationery: Keep the following guidelines in mind if you have an opportunity to suggest or change your organization’s stationery. Quality, Size, Color: Good company stationery is most often at least 25 percent cotton content, 20 pound weight and white cream or light gray in color. Letterhead: Modern letterheads usually occupy no more than 2 inches at the top of the page. The firm’s name , address, ZIP code and sometimes telephone number, cable address, fax number, internet address, nature of business and name of the department or branch office sending the correspondence are printed, embossed or engraved.

Business Letters (cont’d …) Stationery and Envelopes Letterhead: INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF BALOCHISTAN, QUETTA Tel: 92-81-9211534, Fax: 9211535

Business Letters (cont’d …) Stationery and Envelopes Envelopes: The receiver’s information should be written, printed or typed in the center at the back of the envelope. The sender’s information should be written, printed or typed in the front of the envelope or at the upper left corner at the back of the envelope. Information should be listed in the following order: Name and title of receiver Name of department Name of organization Name of building (if relevant) Street address and suite number or post office box number City, state and ZIP code or city, province and postal code Country (if letter is being sent out of the country) Mail notations such REGISTERED or SPECIAL DELIVERY should be typed in capital letters below the postal area. Any instructions, such as CONFIDENTIAL, PLEASE FORWARD or ACCOUNT NUMBER should be typed in capital letters below the return address near the left upper edge of the envelope.

Business Letters (cont’d …) Mr. Mohsin Kamal Institute of Management Sciences University of Balochistan Box 333 Sariab Road, Quetta 87300 CONFIDENTIAL Mr. Ayaz Qadir, Student University of Balochistan, Sariab Road, Quetta (87300), Pakistan

Business Letters (cont’d …) Standard Parts of the Letter Heading: Letterhead and date (should be at the top of the letter before the date and before the name and address of the receiver) Inside address (courtesy title and name, e.g., Mr, Ms or Miss and executive or professional title, e.g., name, address, company name) Salutation (Dear) Body Complimentary close (sincerely, truly, obediently) Signature area Reference section (it may include information about the message composer, the typist and sometimes word processing data.)

Business Letters (cont’d …) Letter Layout Punctuation Styles: Open and Mixed punctuation are the two forms most used in American business letters. Open punctuation, no line of any letter part (except the body) has any punctuation at the end unless an abbreviation requires a period. Mixed punctuation, a colon (:) follows the salutation; a comma follows the complimentary close. Foreign writers, especially those in Asia and Great Britain, use a comma (,) in place of a colon after the salutation. They argue that colons are too formal.

Business Letters (cont’d …) Letter Layout Letter Styles: Business letters are usually arranged in one of the letter styles described briefly below: Full-block, every line begins at the left margin. This is a common format because it is quick and easy to set up. Modified-block, the date, complimentary close and signature sections begin at the horizontal center o the page or are placed so that they end near the right hand margin. Attention and subject lines may be indented, centered or begin at the left margin, where all other parts begin. This letter style is used often and is attractive on the page. Modified-block with paragraphs indented. AMS (Administrative Management Society) simplified style. AMS has been in use since the 1950s but is not widely used.

Business Letters (cont’d …) Letter Layout Tips for Letter Placement: Software packages permit instant formatting (indents, spacing, margin width, type style) of material according to the length of the letter or size of the paper. The following suggestions are helpful for setting up your message on A-4 (8.5 by 11 inch) paper. Letter Length Words in Body Side Margins (inches) Line Length (inches) Lines between date and inside address Short Under 100 2 4.5 4-10 Medium 100-200 1.5 5.5 3-8 Long 200-300 1 6.5 2-6

Business Letter (cont’d …) Optional parts of the Letter Attention Line: It is useful when you want your message to go to a certain department or when someone other than the addressee will take care of your message. When you do not know an individual’s name but want the message to go to a particular title (sales manager) or department. When the writer knows only the person’s surname and therefore, does not want to use that name in the salutation. When the writer expects that the addressee travels often an wants the letter to be attended promptly by whoever takes care of the addressee’s business. Placement of the attention line is usually between the inside address and salutation, with a blank line before and after it. It may be flush with the left margin, indented with the paragraph or centered. Subject Line: Considered a part of the body of the letter, the subject line helps tell your reader at a glance what your letter is about. It helps in filing. The subject line may include or omit the word subject. It is usually placed on the second line below the salutation and centered or it may be placed flush with the left margin. The typing may be capitals and lowercase and underlined. Enclosure Notation: An enclosure or attachment notation is included to remind your reader to check for additional pages of information.

Business Letters (cont’d …) 4. Copy Notation: When persons other than the addressee will receive a copy of your message, you note by writing “c,” “copy,” or “cc” followed by the names of those persons just below the reference initials or the enclosure notation. 5. File or Account Number and Mailing Notation: To aid in filing and quick retrieval for both the sender’s and reader’s company, some firms require that file, loan or account number be typed above the body of the letter. Mailing notation words such as Special Delivery, Certified or Registered Mail, when applicable may be typed a double space between the date line and at least a double space before the inside address. 6. Postscript: To emphasize a point already in your letter or to include a brief personal message unrelated to the letter, a postscript, typed or handwritten (with or without “P.S.,” “PS,” or “PS:”) may be added below everything else typed on the page. But with today’s rapid word processors, the postscript is falling into disuse.

Special Timesaving Message Media Electronic Mail: E-mail formats have similarities to both memo and letter formats. Facsimiles (Faxes) Telegrams, Mailgrams, Telexes: Telegrams and Mailgrams are sent using telephone lines. The difference is that telegram is sent to one person and mailgrams might be sent to a group or more than two persons at the same time by contacting a toll free number. Telexes use telegraph line for transmission. A telex is a keyboarded on a word processing system and then sent over telegraph lines to compatible receivers. Teleconferencing: Audio Video Computer