Business Correspondence

Business Correspondence

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Title: Business Correspondence
Author: Anonymous
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUSINESS
CORRESPONDENCE ***

Produced by Andrea Ball, Charles Franks, Juliet Sutherland, and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team

BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE
VOLUME I
HOW TO WRITE THE BUSINESS LETTER: _24 chapters on
preparing to write the letter and finding the proper viewpoint; how to
open the letter, present the proposition convincingly, make an effective
close; how to acquire a forceful style and inject originality; how to
adapt selling appeal to different prospects and get orders by letter--
proved principles and practical schemes illustrated by extracts from 217
actual letters_

CONTENTS
BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE VOLUME I

PART I Preparing to Write the Letter
CHAPTER
1: What You Can Do With a Postage Stamp 2: The Advantages of
Doing Business by Letter 3: Gathering Material and Picking Out
Talking Points 4: When You Sit Down to Write

PART II How to Write the Letter 5: How to
Begin a Business Letter
6: How to Present Your Proposition 7: How to Bring the Letter to a
Close

PART III _Style--Making the Letter
Readable_
8: "Style" in Letter Writing--And How to Acquire It 9: Making the
Letter Hang Together 10: How to Make Letters Original 11: Making
the Form Letter Personal

PART IV The Dress of a Business Letter 12:
Making Letterheads and Envelopes
Distinctive
13: The Typographical Make-up of Business Letters 14: Getting a
Uniform Policy and Quality in Letters 15: Making Letters Uniform in
Appearance

PART V Writing the Sales Letter 16: How to
Write the Letter That Will "Land" the
Order
17: The Letter That Will Bring An Inquiry 18: How to Close Sales by
Letter 19: What to Enclose With Sales Letters 20: Bringing in New
Business by Post Card 21: Making it Easy for the Prospect to Answer

PART VI The Appeal to Different Classes 22:
How to Write Letters That Appeal to
Women
23: How to Write Letters That Appeal to Men 24: How to Write Letters
That Appeal to Farmers

What You Can Do With a POSTAGE STAMP

CHAPTER 1
">
PART I--PREPARING TO WRITE THE
LETTER--
CHAPTER 1
_Last year [1910] fifteen billion letters were handled by the post
office--one hundred and fifty for every person. Just as a thousand years
ago practically all trade was cash, and now only seven per cent involves
currency, so nine-tenths of the business is done today by letter while
even a few decades ago it was by personal word. You can get your
prospect, turn him into a customer, sell him goods, settle complaints,
investigate credit standing, collect your money_--ALL BY LETTER.
_And often better than by word of mouth. For, when talking, you speak
to only one or two; by letter you can talk to a hundred thousand in a
sincere, personal way. So the letter is the_ MOST IMPORTANT
TOOL _in modern business--good letter writing is the business man's_
FIRST REQUIREMENT.
* * * * *
There is a firm in Chicago, with a most interesting bit of inside history.
It is not a large firm. Ten years ago it consisted of one man. Today
there are some three hundred employees, but it is still a one-man
business. It has never employed a salesman on the road; the head of the
firm has never been out to call on any of his customers.
But here is a singular thing: you may drop in to see a business man in
Syracuse or San Francisco, in Jacksonville or Walla Walla, and should
you casually mention this man's name, the chances are the other will
reply: "Oh, yes. I know him very well. That is, I've had