General format of letter used for a professional or business purpose
A professional letter is an important part of the syllabus which students should learn not only to score in examination rather it is required to conceive quite well as it will have various applications in there professional life too wherever a business related communication will be required to any organization. Even if we choose a career of businessman or if try to communicate with electricity board or gas distributor on paper in our personal life, application of business letter will be required too.
Introduction of a professional or business letter
Still in the recent age of wide usages of telecommunication, communication through letter writing is the prime way to communicate in our professional life to keep written evidence basically. A professional letter is often called as a business letter too because in one receptacle such a letter is used for someone's business, again it may be associated with others' profession on the other hand also. A professional letter is usually used to deal with clients, consultants or suppliers in our professional life. As we write such letters representing an organization, we should use a professional, effective and organized printed letter head which will not only carry the information of our company but will carry the prestigious representation of our organization too. However, such letter head will obviously be ignored if we write a letter for our personal business deal.Format of a professional or business letter
A professional or business letter generally comprise of few components which have different functions. Well, it is quite easy to get an exact explanation of something if you have any example in front. And accordingly, I want to keep a typical example of a professional letter below first and then tell you about various components of the business letter in detail.Example of a professional or business letter
ABC Ltd.,
220E, A.J.C. Bose Road,
Kolkata – 20
February 20, 2014
XYZ Pvt. Co. Ltd.,
11, SP Sarani,
Kolkata – 18
Kind attn. – Mr. K. Ghosh, GM (Project)
Ref. – Contract no. TD-0023140062 dated 04.07.2013
Subject – Request to release our overdue payment against above contract no.
Dear Sir,
It is regretted that although we have taken full initiative from our end towards mobilization at site and supplied materials of a value of Rs. six crores immediately on receipt of resumption of work notice from you on 24-12-13, it has been noticed that neither any initiative towards release of our overdue payment nor any action towards settlement of contractual issues is being taken by you except only repeated promises. In spite of our repeated requests you have not given any consequence of the same, resulting to serious fund crunch to us which is unabling us for further shipment of materials and overdue burden demurrage since 14-8-2013.
Your repeated promises are not being kept by you which has resulted towards non-payment of our sub-contractor at site too.
Under the circumstances, we will be having no other option but to stop the work at site. However, kindly note we have made a request to our sub-contractor towards their overdue payment by 26-02-2014 beyond which they are not agreeing to continue work further. Accordingly, we request you to release our overdue payment and settle all pending contractual obligations by 26-02-2014. Under such compulsions we will not be held responsible because of your inaction.
We are waiting for your quick action as mentioned above.
Thanking you,
B. K. Pal
Sr. Project Coordinator
Encl.- Sub-contractor's letter dated 18.02.2014
CC – Mr. T. K. Sen, GM – Project, ABC Ltd
Now watch the various components of the letter and try to compare with the above example of business letter to realize very closely.Heading
It includes sender's address and the letter date. Sender's address is the address of the organization from which side this letter is being generated or the undersigned is from which company. If you don't have letter head, you have to include sender's address over date keeping a single line space between those two. If you are using a letter head, sender address may be ignored. Sender's address is known as return address too. And on which date the letter is being generated is usually mentioned in the letter. It is very essential part because a letter can be identified only by the date if there are many correspondences between two companies. In the above example, heading is
"February 20, 2014
ABC Ltd.,
220E, A.J.C. Bose Road,
Kolkata – 20"Inside address
It is the name and address of the recipient(s) to whom letter has been addressed by the sender. Put one line gap between date and inside address. If you want to add an attention line, don't put recipient's name and designation here. The inside address in the above example is
"XYZ Pvt. Co. Ltd.,
11, SP Sarani,
Kolkata – 18"Attention Line
Write the name of the recipient(s) along with designation(s) to whom you're addressing the letter keeping a gap of one line below inside address. You may skip it, If have already written the person's name in the inside address. In the above letter attention line is "Kind attn. – Mr. K. Ghosh, GM (Project)".Reference
If the letter is being written with reference to any previous letter or contract or invoice etc., you may mention it below attention line for better understanding of the reader. Note that "Ref. – Contract no. TD-0023140062 dated 04.07.2013" is the reference in the above letter.Subject of the letter
It is one of the important components in the letter. Subject of a letter is basically the gist of entire letter in one line which you will provide between reference and salutation maintaining one line gap on each of upward and downward to highlight the matter at a glance to the viewer. For highlighting you can write it in caps form or bold or underlined. You can note in the example that I used both bold and underlined for the subject line.Salutation
We normally use addressee's name here adding Mr. for men and Ms. for women to show our respect to them. But you should not predict any gender. Before using of any salutation, you have to confirm first. And if you don't know the name of recipient, use "To Whom It May Concern" as salutation aligning centrally instead of left. Some common usages of salutation areBody
It is the main text of your message. As time is very important in our professional life, try to keep it to the point and in brief. In the above example "It is regretted ……… as mentioned above." is called as body of the letter.Complimentary close
Providing one line gap after the last line of the body of the letter you have to put the complimentary close at the left margin. Start the first letter of the first word in capital letter and always end the line with a comma. What you will write here usually varies depending on your tone and the degree of formality. Use 'Respectfully yours' in case of very formality or 'Sincerely' as a typical or less formal case. Again if you want to show very politeness, write 'Very truly yours' and use 'Cordially yours' when it is friendly or informal. Note that I have used "Thanking you" above as it is the most common form for business letter.Signature
It is the blank space below complementary close and above identification defined below, for your signature. Always use black or blue ink for the signature and avoid red or green ink.Identification
It contains your name, designation, contact number, e-mail id etc. below signature. In the above example I have used
"B. K. Pal
Sr. Project Coordinator"Enclosure
If you have attached any documents along with your letter, mention here. It tells recipient to watch carefully so that he is not missing any document written as enclosure. Note that I have used "Encl.- Sub-contractor's letter dated 18.02.2014" means said letter which has been received at our end from sub-contractor is attached along with my letter. If there is nothing attached along with the letter, ignore it.Courtesy copies or carbon copies
It is the list of names of people to whom you want to distribute the copy of your letter. If there is none, just skip it.Classification of a business letter
There are two types of formats of business letter such as :Extend of business letter or professional letter
You have known from the above that a professional letter is written or typed communication used in business or professional life. Accordingly, you can imagine how wide it's extend is. However, I am giving below some examples so that you can get an idea:Conclusion
Hope, you have got a clear image of letter writing procedure of professional as well as business letter from this article. Now you should start to think about various topics yourself and try to write in said format to be habituated with it. Note that letter writing is an art and if you can write excellent letters in your professional life, it will definitely assist you to become superior to others.
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