business correspondence -...

Business Correspondence

Company to company Unit 1/2

Presenter: Eleanor Wang

王怡人

Business Correspondence

• Telex

• Letter

• Memo

• Fax

• Email

Letter

ABC Co Ltd123 May Road Taipei Taiwan ROC

Tel: 07-1234567 Fax: 07-7654321 Letterhead

28 February 2002 Date

Mr Andrew Pan

Marketing Manager

XYZ Company

63 Fifth Street Inside address

New York 20352

USA

Dear Mr Pan Salutation

Thank you for your letter dated 8 February.

The purchase order is attached. Please process the order as soon as possible. If you

have any question, please contact me or Ms Huang on (301) 581-2323 in the Marketing

Department.

Body

Please let me know if you need any further information.

Yours sincerely Complimentary Close

Lisa Huang Lisa Huang Signature

Manager

• Letterhead

– design by own company (left, middle, right)

– should have company address, telephone and

fax number, website

• The date

– British English

day month year

Ex: 1 March 2007

– American English

month day year

Ex: March 1 2007

• Inside address

Curtsy titleReceiver’s full name

Job titleReceiver’s company name

Address

• Salutation / Complimentary close

(Dear…./Yours…..)

– Dear Sir or Madam – Yours faithfully

– Dear Mr / Mrs / Miss / Ms + Last name (Mr

Smith)

(Unless that a woman preferred to be called

Miss or Mrs, use Ms) – Yours sincerely

– Dear John – Best wishes

• Body

– An opening which says why you are writing

– The main message which gives the details

– The close which usually talks about the future

• Signature

Hand writing

Typed

Job title

Letter layout

• Block style

• Open punctuation

• Write the date in full (Friday, not Fri.)

• The paragraphs start at the margin.

Between each paragraph there is one line

space

• Do not use contractions (I’m, you’re…)

• Consistency

• Some things that make a message unclear

– Paragraphs that are too long

– Sentences that are too long

– Words that are not used very often

– Too much information at once

– Incomplete information

– Information that is in the wrong order

E-mail

Subject

copy

Signature

block

• TO

• From

• Subject headings

– Short and clear

• Ex, Request for catalogues, Agents in Taiwan (P9)

• Cc – copy

• Bcc – blind copy

• Attached – attachment (a file or …)

• Signature block

Email layout

• Salutation / Complimentary close

(Dear…./Yours…..)

– Dear Sir or Madam – Yours faithfully

– Dear Mr/Ms/Mrs/Miss Smith – Yours sincerely

– Dear John – Best wishes

• Signature block

Asking for and sending

information (1)• Ask for information

– Please can you tell me …

– Please can you send me …

– Please can you send me details of …

• If you are replying, thank the person first.

– Thank you for your email.

– Thank you for your letter (email) dated6 June.

– Many thanks for your message, dated 6 June.

– Thank you for your enquiry.

Asking for and sending

information (2)• You can then send the information they

want.

– I am attaching details of …

– I have pleasure in attaching …

– I attach some information which I hope you

find useful.

– I attach our price list and look forward to

hearing from you. (look forward to + Ving)

(P11)

Writing tips – message style (1)

• Write a natural style

– Thank you for your letter dated 20 Mar.

– We have received your letter of the 20th of this

month. Χ

• Do not use very informal language

– Dear John

– Hi! or Hello! Χ

• Do not use text-message abbreviation

– I hope I can see you soon. / for you

– I hope I can c u soon. / 4 u Χ

Writing tips – message style (2)

• Do not use slang

– Someone in our office can help ….

– A guy here can help. Χ

• Do not use “emoticons” symbols.

– -.-, >。< Χ

Be polite! (1)

• Say please and thank you.

– Thank you for your email. Please can you

send us your catalogue.

• Avoid being very direct.

– We think your price are rather high…

– Your price are not acceptable. Χ

• Ask rather than order.

– Please could you send it as soon as possible.

– You must send it right away. Χ

Be polite! (2)

• Use indirect questions

– I was wondering if you could help me.

– Can you help me? Χ

• Avoid blaming / accusing the addressee

– I am afraid there is a problem with the order

– You’ve make a mistake with my order. Χ

• Understate the point

– It seems we have a problem.

– There is a problem. Χ (P13)

• Letter of proposal / Promotion letter-

catalogue, P/L (price list), sample, market

report, company profile (Buyer←Seller)

• Enquiry (Buyer→Seller)

• Quotation, Offer (Buyer←Seller)

• Counter offer - Negotiation(Buyer→Seller)

• Acceptance (Buyer←Seller)

• Contract

• Complain

• Claim

Enquiry

Attachments

• I am attaching our catalogue to this

message. Please contact me if you would

like more information.

• Please find attached our report. I look

forward to hearing your comments.

• I have just received the photographs,

which I have attached to this message.

• If you have any problems opening the

files, please let me know.

Problems with attachments

• Thank you for your email. I am afraid you

forgot to attach the report. Please send

your message again.

• Thank you for your message.

Unfortunately, we can not open the

attachment on my computer. Please send

it again in a different format.

• Sorry! I forgot to send the attachment.

(P19)

Beginning a letter

• Say why you are writing

– We are writing to enquire about…

– We are writing in connection with…

– We are interested in … and we would like to

know…

• Replying

– Thank you for your letter (email) of (date)

– Thank you for your letter (email) dated…

– We have received your letter (email) of (date)

• (date), asking if …

• (date), enquiring about …

• (date), enclosing …

• (date), concerning

Main message

– We are attaching details of …

– We have pleasure in attaching …

– We attach some information which we hope

you find useful.

Ending a letter

– We look forward to receiving your reply / order/

products / etc.

– Looking forward to hearing from you,

– W hope that this information will help you.

– Please contact me if you need any further

information.

– Please fell free to contact me if you have any

further questions.

– Please let me know if you need any further

information.

Email conventions

• Make sure your email open and close

properly.

• Don’t write in CAPITALS.

• Writing a reply, don’t copy the original

message back.

• Divide your message into paragraphs.

• Check spelling and grammar before you

send it.

Vocabulary• letter of proposal / promotion letter-

catalogue(catalog), P/L (price list), sample,

market report, company profile, brochure,

leaflet

• complain

• claim

• attached, attachment, enclosed

• head office

• branch office

• specialise (specialize)

• export

• import

• terms (price terms)

• confirm

• courier快遞

• Trade Fair, Trade Exhibition

• demonstration

• product range

• inquiry / enquiry

• quotation, offer

• counter offer – negotiation

• Trade Terms交易條件

– FOB free on board船上交貨條件

– CFR cost and freight運費在內條件

– CIF cost, insurance and freight運保費在內條件

Vocabulary - Price