Tamara Vorotyntseva – development director of the training company “BUSINESS PARTNER” (Moscow). Practicing business coach, author of the book “Building a Personnel Training System” and publications in business publications in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Creator of the Internet newsletter: “E-mail correspondence in business” on the subscribe.ru server! The book is practical guide for business people conducting active correspondence with clients and partners. It presents tools that will help make electronic communication effective, optimal in time and results, and most compliant with the norms and rules accepted in the modern business community. The author gives practical advice, illustrates his observations with real-life cases and provides reasoned conclusions. The text of the book is rich in recognizable examples of real business correspondence. The author shares his observations, techniques, “tricks” that can significantly affect the efficiency and effectiveness of business email. If you are a business person and it is important for you to write promptly, concisely, competently, in accordance with the rules of good business manners, this book will become your reliable assistant.

Book:

When working with the fields “To” (“To”), “Cc” (“CC”), “Bcc” (“Bcc”), remember that this is an important part of the email that affects the further actions of the participants in the correspondence.

“To whom” (“That”). This field contains the address of the recipient to whom the letter and the information contained in it are directly addressed. The author of the letter is waiting for a response from the main recipient. If two recipients are placed in this field, then the author of the letter is waiting for a response from each or some of them (keep this in mind if your name is on the list of recipients). At the same time (if you are the sender), keep in mind that it is not very advisable to include more than one addressee in the “To” (“To”) field. A letter sent to several recipients may not receive a single response, since each will think that the other will answer.

If the letter is addressed to you, but contains copies of other recipients, be sure to use the “Reply ALL” button when replying! This will allow you to maintain the circle of recipients that the initiator of the correspondence designated.

“Copy” (“Cs”). IN In this field, place the addresses of recipients who, in your opinion, should be aware of correspondence via this issue. These recipients receive information only “for your information.” The cc recipient usually does not have to respond to the letter, but can do so if necessary.

NOTE. IT IS IMPORTANT!

If your name is in the “Cc” (“CC”) field, then when entering into correspondence, remember that there are situations when it is extremely important to be polite. Use the phrases: “Let me join the discussion,” or “Let me join your dialogue,” or “Let me express my opinion.”

"Blind carbon copy" ("Bcc"). This field is prohibited for use in some companies, as it is a tool that contradicts ethical standards communication. The purpose of this field is to invite the recipient to become a “secret witness.”

If your business practice is to use this field in your work, consider the following. The BCC recipient remains invisible to the primary recipient and the BCC recipients. Sometimes it is useful for the sender and the “secret recipient” to have a preliminary agreement (or subsequent awareness) about the reason and purpose of this method of information.

NOTE. IT IS IMPORTANT!

The “hidden” recipient should absolutely not enter into correspondence from this field.

With a cover letter it's kind business letter, which is needed to describe a package of documents sent to the addressee if these documents do not contain the address part.

Thus, The cover letter does not carry any information load, but it performs three important functions:

• confirms the fact of sending;
• provides a list of sent documents and instructions for handling them;
• Thanks to registration data, it allows you to determine the deadline.

Like most business letters, the cover letter is on letterhead and receives the sender's reference number. We have discussed the rules for preparing official letters in detail more than once in the magazine, so now we will focus on the features of the cover letter.

A detailed analysis of a service letter with many examples of its composition is available in the article “We draw up a service letter"

Speech patterns

The basis of the cover letter is a list of attachments. The text of the document is short and conditionally divided into two parts:

• message about sending documents,
• request for a timely response (reading, approval, return of a signed copy, etc.).

The first part usually starts like this:

• “In fulfillment... we direct you...”,
• "We are sending you..."
• “We present to you...”

Next, you can indicate the purpose of sending documents: "for approval", "for information", "for signature", "for filling"(If we're talking about about the survey form or questionnaire). We recommend using the cliche “we send you” or “we send you”, because... You can submit something only for information, but not for signing or approval.

The second part may contain the following words:

• “Please sign, seal and send one copy to our address...”
• “We ask you to consider and send to us within the period established by law...”,
• “Please send to our address one copy of a duly executed…”.

Requisites “Mark about the presence of applications”

As we have already determined, the main thing in a cover letter for documents is the attachments. That's why Special attention We will focus on the issue of designing this particular prop. Regardless of how the application is formatted, business practice requires a complete listing of the documents attached to the letter, indicating the number of copies and the number of sheets in each of them. Without this information, the cover letter will lose all meaning.

So, when the documents being sent are already reported in the body of the letter, there is no point in listing their names again. It is enough to indicate the number of sheets and copies. See Example 1.

Example 1

A fragment of text and a note about the presence of an application (the name of the application is indicated in the text of the letter)

If the application is not indicated in the body of the letter, in addition to quantitative data, you must indicate its name. If a package includes several documents, the attachments are numbered. See Example 2.

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Example 2

A fragment of text and a mark indicating the presence of the application (the name of the application is indicated in the mark indicating its presence)

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Although GOST R 6.30-2003 states that when listing multiple applications in a mark about their availability the generalizing word before the colon is in the singular “Appendix:”, in such cases we still recommend writing it in plural"Applications:" as we showed in Example 2.

Firstly, this is correct from the point of view of the rules of the Russian language. And secondly, the developers of this GOST themselves later “corrected themselves” when they began to give explanations regarding its application in their methodological recommendations. See quotations from these two documents below. But many people stubbornly continue to write the word “Application:” in the singular, even if it is followed by a list of several documents. Don't do this and we've explained why.

Document fragment

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GOST R 6.30-2003 “Unified documentation systems. Unified system of organizational and administrative documentation. Requirements for document preparation"

3.21. ...If the letter has an attachment that is not named in the text, then indicate its name, the number of sheets and the number of copies; If there are several applications, they are numbered:

Document fragment

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Organizational and administrative documentation. Documentation requirements. Guidelines on the implementation of GOST R 6.30-2003

3.16. ...If the letter has an attachment that is not named in the text, then indicate its name, the number of sheets and the number of copies; if there are several attachments, they are numbered:

There are also discrepancies regarding how to write the word “attachment” in the body of the letter: with a small or capital letter, with or without the “No” sign. The fact is that you can indicate the name of the attached document in the text of the cover letter in different ways; compare for yourself by looking at Example 3: in the second case it is appropriate to indicate in brackets that the document is an application, and in subsequent cases we show how this can be done in different ways. All options are correct, it’s just important to maintain uniformity in the letter. And it’s even better to choose and fix one option in your organization’s clerical instructions (or other local regulations on similar issues), then there will be uniformity in all documents and there will be less confusion for performers.

Example 3

Various ways specifying the name of the application in the text of the letter

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For a bound application, the number of sheets need not be specified (Example 4).

Example 4

Description of the bound application

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When there are so many attachments that it is more convenient to list them on a separate sheet (it will be called “Inventory of attachments to the letter dated... No...”), it will be enough to refer to such an inventory in the letter (Example 5).

Example 5

If there are so many applications that it is more convenient to list them in a separate inventory

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If you attach to your letter another letter that has its own attachment, you need to inform the addressee about this (Example 6).

Example 6

The letter attachment has its own attachment

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Finally, if your letter is addressed to several organizations at once, and the attachment is addressed to only one of them (others receive the letter only for review), this should also be said (Example 7).

Example 7

The attachment is sent to only one email recipient out of several

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A note about the presence of attachments is placed below the text of the letter and above the signature. Usually these distances (indents) are made identical and equal to approximately 2-3 line spacing (this is clearly shown in the example of the design of an entire letter in Example 9).

By general rule, if the document has attachments, then a mark indicating their presence is made on it below the text and above the signature, and on the attached documents (each in the upper right part of the first sheet) it is written which document they are an attachment to (with the designation of the attachment number, if there are any). several), as in Example 8.

Example 8

Application number and main document data on 1 sheet of application

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But the covering letter has the accounting function of the documents being sent, acting as a kind of inventory of the attachments in the envelope; in reality, the documents named in such a letter as attachments are sent. If the letter had a different function (for example, it was an offer, making an offer to sign an agreement and listing the terms of the proposed cooperation), then the “key” document in its meaning would be the letter, and the attached documents would only help it fulfill its function. But we are talking about a cover letter, and in this case you should not “spoil” the documents being sent with information about the “inventory of contents in the envelope” - i.e. There is no need to put such a mark on them!

Signing and registration with the sender

The signatory of a business letter is the same official as in a regular business correspondence(usually either the head of the organization or an authorized top manager). If we are talking about sending primary accounting documents, the chief accountant can also sign the letter.

To prevent the recipient of the letter from later asking all clarifying questions to its signatory (indicated by number 1 in Example 9), the executor should also be indicated in this document (ibid., see number 2).

Before sending, the cover letter must be assigned an outgoing number (indicated by the number 3).

And the addressee will assign him his incoming number when registering the fact of receipt of the document, while the date of receipt and the incoming number can be indicated on it (handwritten or using a stamp, as in Example 9 - see number 4).

Example 9

Covering letter

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Example 11

Cover letter form for applicants - individuals

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Surprise for applicants - individuals

The need to write a cover letter for documents concerns everyone, regardless of whether it is an organization or individual. Meanwhile, when he comes to the organization a common person, as a rule, no letter is drawn up to accompany his documents. It’s a pity, because it would be more convenient for you not to remember and somehow record it yourself, but to have information written by the visitor: from whom, what documents, to which of your employees and why to transfer. If you systematically deal with individuals, especially on a number of standard issues, and at the same time receive from them documents with which your organization must then do something, then we recommend that you develop a cover letter form for such cases and ask each such person to fill it out visitor. See example form in Example 11.

You will register the completed form and give a copy of the letter with the incoming number to the applicant, and send the package of documents received from him along the proper route. Then, when you call to inquire about your documents, the person will no longer ask about the “dacha in Malinovka”, but about a certain letter with a unique index.

Please respond within a certain time frame

Many organizations like to immediately set a deadline for the addressee in their cover letters, and the methods can vary from polite “We ask you to sign the documents and return them within ten days.” to imperative “The response time to a letter is 5 working days”. Is it worth writing like this? And how to react to such conditions?

Let us remember that according to the rules of business dealings. This guideline should be remembered if there is no other deadline in the cover letter.

Put mandatory period execution can only be carried out by a higher, controlling organization or any government agency, binding on you normative document. The parties themselves can agree and document the voluntarily assumed obligations:

Example 10

The deadline for responding to a letter can be established in the contract

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The agreement provides for a mandatory pre-trial procedure for resolving disputes and disagreements. A Party that believes that its rights under this Agreement have been violated is obliged to send a written reasoned claim to the other Party. The party that has received a written reasoned claim is obliged to consider it and give a written reasoned response within 10 (Ten) calendar days from the moment it was received...

When equals in company status are communicating (if previously no one above them or they have not established rules of interaction for themselves), you can ask for a faster response, but you need a good reason for this. For example: “Please send the completed questionnaire within fourteen days, since we must provide a response to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation by October 1, 2013.”. Orders in such cases are incorrect, including from the point of view of business etiquette.

Storing Cover Letters

A covering letter becomes unnecessary as soon as the performer picks up its applications and makes sure that they are complete. From now on, work will be done on them, and the letter should be marked as completed and placed in the file.

The question often arises about how to store cover letters and attachments to them: separately or together? Usually, an attachment to a letter is placed in a special file reserved specifically for this type of document. There is no place for cover letters: certificates of work performed, invoices, contracts and many other documents are stored separately and often for different periods of time.

This point should be taken into account when compiling a list of cases. Some companies (with a small volume of document flow) create one file “Covering Letters” and place all letters of this kind in it, regardless of what was attached to them. Others have to create several cases using cover letters and place them in the case lists of structural divisions. Then, for example, the sent contract will go into the “Service Agreements” file, and the cover letter to it will go into the “Covering letters for contracts for core activities” file.

It also happens that the letter remains in storage at the company, but the attachment does not. This applies, for example, to draft documents (as in Example 9). The draft regulation is not yet a document and will most likely be subject to corrections more than once; it is not necessary to store it.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in writing a cover letter, but it itself can save not only your documents, but also time.

A slight difficulty, as usual, may arise when a company implements the rule of drawing up and submitting a properly executed cover letter along with a package of documents. But this problem can be solved quite simply by establishing this rule in a local regulatory act. And the benefits of it are difficult to overestimate.

Footnotes

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Some naive citizens submit applications very simply, i.e. they give them into the hands of the recipient and leave with a feeling of accomplishment. And when it comes to official proceedings, including court proceedings, they are surprised to hear that they did not file anything, and when the court asks to provide evidence of service of the application, they shrug their hands in bewilderment. Therefore, when submitting an application, you need to make sure that you have proof of its delivery.

Delivery against receipt

In any self-respecting institution, the employee responsible for receiving correspondence puts a stamp on a copy of each application, where the word “received” or simply the name of the institution may be written. He also writes the date of receipt and puts his signature.

Therefore, to deliver the application, you should come to the organization to which it is addressed and bring with you the original and a copy of the application, which can be made on a photocopier, typewriter, by hand, etc. The original will remain with the institution, and a copy with a mark of acceptance will remain with you and will serve as proof of delivery.

Ordered letter

It may happen that they refuse to sign your name on a copy of the application, because... legislation, with rare exceptions, does not provide for such an obligation.

Then you will have to go the other way and send it by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt. To do this, you need to go to the post office, fill out a notification form and pay for delivery, which will cost a little more than sending a regular letter.

You will be given a receipt, and the postman will only give the letter to the addressee when he signs the notice, which will then be returned to you and will serve as proof of delivery.

But this method of delivering applications also has inconveniences because postal workers do not certify copies of documents that we send by registered mail, so in this case it will be difficult to prove that they were in the letter and not something else.

Taking advantage of this, an unscrupulous addressee can say that he actually received the letter, but it did not contain a statement, but Blank sheet paper or advertising brochure.

True, very few people resort to such blatant fraud, which is why registered letters with return receipt requested are the most common way to send applications.

Valuable letter

The application and attached documents can be sent by a valuable letter, and then you will have in your hands an inventory of its contents, which will indicate the names of the documents that you sent.

Telegram

If the matter is urgent or you want to have a certified copy of the text of the application and are not short on funds, then it can be sent by telegraph. After some time, you will be able to receive a copy of the telegram certified with a post office calendar stamp.

In addition, both a valuable letter and a telegram, as well as a registered letter, can be sent with acknowledgment of delivery. If the addressee refuses to accept the letter or telegram, the postman will write about this in the notification, and the application will be considered received.

Notary services

The application can be sent through notaries, both private and those working in public notary offices.

The notary can deliver it personally or send it by mail with acknowledgment of delivery, or use telefax, computer networks and others for this purpose. technical means. At the request of a citizen, he is obliged to issue a certificate of transfer of the application, which must indicate its content.

This method is not widely used due to high cost this service, which is half the minimum wage and because notaries are usually reluctant to undertake it.

Nevertheless, this method exists, and with some persistence it can be used.

Use of witnesses

If for some reason you cannot use any of these methods, then try to appear at the addressee with witnesses who can confirm the delivery of the application or refusal to receive it. We talked about working with witnesses in Chapter 4.

Probably everyone has at least once had to deal with the need to write a business letter. When compiling it, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that it is not at all easy. There are many business letter writing rules and regulations that you need to know. The article describes in detail the process of drawing up a document, provides samples of business letters, and discusses their types and design.

Form

Ready-made forms will add solidity and indicate the reliability of the company. They contain the necessary information about the organization, such as:

• Name.
• Address.
• Contact phone numbers.
• Website.
• Email.
• Logo.
• Other contact details.

There are no strict rules regarding forms. Therefore, each organization independently decides what information to include in them.

How to write business letters correctly? Preparation

Business letters are written and formatted in a certain way, subject to their inherent rules and requirements. Depending on the goal, the author thinks through the content in detail in order to obtain the result he is calculating. He must clearly understand what information the addressee already knows about the subject of the letter, what to base it on and what will be new in it. The arguments depend on what goal the author is pursuing. The process of preparing a business letter can be divided into the following stages:

• Studying the issue.
• Writing a draft letter.
• Its approval.
• Signing.
• Registration.
• Sending to the recipient.

Structure of business letters

When composing a letter, it is necessary to saturate it with information, that is, put all the necessary information there. It can be simple or complex. In a simple letter, the content clearly and concisely conveys information that generally does not require a response from the recipient. A complex one may consist of several sections, points and paragraphs. Each paragraph presents one aspect of information. These types of business letter samples typically consist of an introductory, body, and closing section.

Below is an example of writing a business letter - its introductory part.

The main part describes situations and events, provides their analysis and evidence. It is in this part that they convince that they need to act in one way or another, prove how things were and inform about the need to participate in any event, giving various arguments.

The conclusion contains conclusions that are made in the form of proposals, requests, reminders, refusals, and so on.

An example of writing a business letter - its final part - is presented below. This summarizes the requirement stated in the main one.

All information provided should be optimally consistent and understandable.

Each letter begins with a centered address. This small part is extremely important. When choosing it, the author must consider:

• Addressee's position.
• The nature of the relationship.
• Formality.
• Etiquette.

There should be a polite form at the end of the letter. For example: “...I express hope for further cooperation (gratitude for the invitation)...” These phrases are followed by the author's signature.

Style

All letters must be written in an official business style, which means using formal language business relations. The features of such a language are formed under the following circumstances:

• The main participants in business relations are legal entities, on behalf of whose managers and officials letters are written.
• Relations in organizations are strictly regulated.
• The subject of communication is the activities of the company.
• Management documents generally have a specific addressee.
• Often, in the course of an organization's activities, the same situations occur.

In this regard, the information contained in a business letter should be:

• Official, impersonal, emphasizing the distance between participants in communication.
• Addressed, intended for a specific addressee.
• Current at the time of writing.
• Reliable and impartial.
• Reasoned to induce the recipient to perform any action.
• Complete for decision making.

Requirements

A business letter must meet the following requirements:

• Speech is standardized at all levels - lexical, morphological and syntactic. It contains many expressions, terms and formulas.
• The tone of writing is neutral, restrained and strict, without the use of emotional and expressive language.
• Accuracy and clarity of the text, without logical errors, clarity and thoughtfulness of wording.
• Conciseness and brevity - without using expressions that carry additional meaning.
• The use of language formulas formed as a result of repeated situations.
• The use of terms, that is, words or phrases that have special concepts.
• The use of abbreviations, which can be lexical (that is, compound words formed by removing letters from parts of words: LLC, GOST, and so on) and graphic (that is, word designations in abbreviated form: grn, zh-d, etc.).
• The use of constructions in the genitive and instrumental cases.
• Phrases with verbal nouns (“provide support” instead of “support”).
• Using simple common sentences.

The above business letter samples below are shown in full version(with the main part). The information meets all the requirements of an official business style.

Types of business letters

It is best to write a business letter on one specific issue. If it is necessary to solve several issues at once, it is recommended to draw up several different options.

Business letters can have the following content:

• Accompanying. Such letters are usually needed to inform you where to send documents.
  (How to write a business letter? A sample cover letter will help those who need to write this type of document.)

• Guaranteed. They are written to confirm any promises or conditions. For example, payment for work, rent, delivery times, etc. can be guaranteed.
• Thanks. They began to be used especially often in Lately. Such letters demonstrate good partnership tone. They can be issued on regular letterhead or on colored paper with a beautiful print.
  (How to write a business letter? A sample of the thank-you variety is drawn up in free form, depending on the tasks that it solves. In this case, the letter expresses its essence in the shortest form. Such a sample, made on colored paper with an ornament, can hang on the wall in the room company in a place of honor.)

• Informational.
• Instructive.
• Congratulations.
• Advertising.

There are also letters:

• Proposals for cooperation. Quite common in recent times, sent to organizations, are often of an advertising nature, for example, like this sample. It is quite difficult to write commercial letters; you need to take into account many nuances in order to get attention, and even more so, to become interested. But if you compose it according to the sample below, it has every chance of success.

• Invitations. They are sent, inviting them to participate in various events. They are usually addressed to the manager or official, but can also be addressed to the whole team.
• Requests.
• Notices.
• Requests and many others.

How to write a response to a letter. Example

The answer must begin by repeating the request stated in the first letter. Then the results of its consideration are given and approval or a reason for refusal is expressed. A business response letter may contain an alternative solution to the expected information. Typically it meets the following principles:

• Availability of a link to the first letter and its contents.
• Identical language means.
• Comparable scope and content aspects.
• Compliance with a certain sequence.

Decor

In addition to using corporate letterheads for business letters, it is necessary to take into account other subtleties when designing them. These are details, rules for abbreviations, writing addresses, headings, text length, field widths, and more.

Samples of a business letter help you compose it, taking into account all the subtleties and nuances. They are used by both beginning office workers and experienced workers. Thanks to the samples, they learn how to write letters correctly and save a lot of time.

A question letter is one of the most common types of business email correspondence. Despite their simplicity, it is question letters that create a lot of difficulties for both the sender and the recipient.

Mistakes when writing question letters

1. A question hanging in the air.

The problem with this question is that it is asked to someone unknown, for what purpose and in connection with what.

For example: “Will you accept a family of three?” This was the first letter. Even the addressee of this letter could not adequately answer this question letter. The fact is that some time ago the addressee posted an advertisement on several resources that the employer was ready to provide work in his specialty with the provision of housing. For different vacancies there were different conditions. When a month later a letter arrives with such a question without any preamble, you don’t even want to answer it. Why such an employee? Even if he is a genius in his field, in his letter he showed himself at his worst.

2. A question burdened with unnecessary details.

If you are asking a question in the context of previous correspondence, then in the body of the letter it is enough to refer to the previous letter, and not burden it with unnecessary details.

For example: “You said that you can make a translation remotely. You can also send an electronic copy. And they told me that... How much does a notarized translation of a birth certificate or marriage certificate from Ukrainian into Russian cost?” In this case, it was possible to get by with one sentence or phrase: “You said that it is possible to make a translation remotely. How much does a notarized translation of a birth certificate or marriage certificate from Ukrainian into Russian cost?”

3.A question taken out of the context of previous correspondence.

Very often the work process requires various clarifications, clarifications, and solutions to problems that arise along the way. In such cases, clarifying questions are used. But it happens that some people ask such questions every time in a new letter, without saving the correspondence history. This greatly complicates the response process and the recipient’s life. Every time he is forced to rummage through mailbox and look for previous letters and your answers to them. Keep previous correspondence on each project or issue.

How to write a question letter correctly?

1. Address the recipient by name. If the letter is addressed to a team, contact the person in charge.

Dear Sergey Anatolyevich!

2. Set the context. What was the reason for writing and why are you addressing the addressee specifically?

At personal meeting You and I discussed possible topics for the issue for Victory Day and settled on life stories veterans.

3. State the problem. Briefly formulate the essence of the problem.

However, through personal communication, I was able to collect interesting material from the memories of children of war.

4. Ask a question. Formulate it as briefly and clearly as possible. The better the question is formulated, the more accurate the answer will be.

Can we include an article about children of war in the issue?

5. Thank you for your help.

I would be grateful for your quick response.

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	-	Sending hundreds commercial offers, requests and other business letters every day, but you don’t achieve it with your message desired result? Don’t know how to unobtrusively and politely remind the recipient of his obligations? Then online training will certainly help you "Business Writing Skills"! You can take it at any convenient time by