LETTERS: THE ULTIMATE CHECKLIST

No business communication is as loaded with details to remember as the letter. The following checklist spotlights the essentials for brilliant, reader-ready letters:

Make sure your letters are in the full block style with everything — date, salutation, closing, and body — flush left. This gives your letters a clean, streamlined look and is easy to create since you don’t have to bother indenting. Your computer should determine the number of spaces between paragraphs and the width of your margins. If it does not, make your margins about 11/4 inch on the sides and bottom and about 21/2 inches on the top.

Check: Whether your letter has a well-defined border, like a frame around a picture.
Writer’s address
Most likely, you’re using stationery with your company’s name, address, and telephone number printed on the page, so don’t bother adding your address. Some people like to handwrite their name somewhere at the top of the page. Nice touch, but not necessary. Your name will be at the bottom of the letter — why write it twice?If you’re not writing on company stationery, type your name, company name, and address in the upper left, three spaces above the date.Check: Typos in your address. Nothing is as embarrassing as misspelling your own name or street address.
Date line
The date line is exactly what it says, the line for the date. Americans write: June 15, 1996. Europeans write: 15 June 1996Lots of people think they should use the European date when writing to an international audience. But that’s a bit pretentious and highly inconsistent, since you’re using American spelling for all other words.Which date is right if you’re sending a letter on the 15th but wrote it on the 14th? The 14th. The date line says when you wrote your message; the postmark says when you mailed it.Check: The correct date.
Reader’s address
When you write the reader’s name, title, company name, and address, you have the dubious opportunity to insult your reader via misspellings. Stay safe:
• Spell the person’s name correctly. People tend to be touchy about this, as if misspelling a name means you don’t like it. Check common names that have uncommon variations, such as Smith or Smyth and Lesley or Leslie. Be doubly careful with businesses that ignore usage rules in favor of creativity in names, from ValuFlex to DISCO.
• Use Ms. or Mr. appropriately. This is a tough one, too, when you’re writing to women. The new business-writing norm is to call all women “Ms.” unless they indicate their preference for “Miss” or “Mrs.” However, insult is a pretty big room, and people find reasons to enter. They may be insulted by “Ms.” simply because they’re not used to it or by “Mrs.” because their marital status shouldn’t matter.
Another area of sensitivity is gender. Say you get a call from Sandy Morris, Lee Smith, Lesley Jacobson, or Andy Crowley. Determining the caller’s gender is much like flipping a coin. Keep the change in your pocket, though, and choose one of these options:
1. Write out the person’s full name: Dear Lesley Jacobson,
2. Call the company or person and find out. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a secretary who will understandingly tip you off. Be sure to ask, “How does Lesley Jacobson like to be addressed?” and not, “Is Lesley a guy?”
Finally, be careful of professional titles, using them only when appropriate. Some people, such as Ph.D.’s who call themselves “Dr.,” love titles. Others don’t. I’ve been a bona fide professor, but “Professor Benjamin” was too stuffy for my taste. Once again, the best way to determine whether a title is appropriate is to find out your readers’preference. If you can’t find out, you’ll have to guess.
• Include the correct job title after the person’s name. If the title is especially long (for example, “Assistant Senior Manager of Internal and External Operations”) break it into two lines and indent the second line two spaces. But don’t lop off a few words for convenience’sake or guess at a title.
What’s in a Name? Better Find Out

One of the few rules for business products, services, and newsletter titles is to break rules. So, when writing to or about a company — even your own — check to make sure you have the correct

Spelling: Particularly in the retail world, you find unusual, even startling, ways to spell otherwise basic words, such as “kidz” rather than “kids)” “luv” instead of “love” and “valu” not “value.”

Punctuation: Some organizations, particularly law firms, drop the commas between names; others add dashes between words; still others, rightly or wrongly, omit apostrophes. For example, “Cromley Smith and Andersen,” “The National Manufacturers Organization,” and “In-A-Second Temp Agency,” could also be “Cromley, Smith and Andersen,” “The National Manufacturers) Organization,” and “In a Second Temp Agency.”

Use of lower- and uppercase: Is the name “The Paper and Envelope Company” or “The Paper And Envelope Company” or the “Paper and Envelope Company” or the “Paper And Envelope” company? Only the company knows for sure.

Spacing: Companies get creative here, especially with newsletter names. For example, the correct spacing for one newsletter is: Upward Directions. And for another, NewsLink Today.

Some organizations change their names as quickly as they hire and fire employees. This practice can be extreme. The president and founder of one of my clients — a successful operation with 600 employees — didn’t know that the company’s name contained “Group” and not “Company” as it had years before. So remember, before writing a company’s name — and, in some cases, even your own company’s name — check.

• Include the right street address, spelling out “Street,” “Road,” “Avenue,” and so on, and numbers under 11:
One Beacon Street
13 Morningside Road

Remember, when writing the state, use the post office’s two-letter abbreviations, such as RI for Rhode Island. Since most aren’t that easy to figure out, here’s a list of post office abbreviations for U.S. states, territories, and possessions:

And here’s a list of postal abbreviations for Canada:

With overseas addresses, replicate whatever is on the stationery, such as this U.K. address:

Laurence Hartcliff 48, Sutcliffe Drive, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV33 XLD

A U.S. address might look something like this:

Ms. Elaine Jackson Vice President, Human Resources ValuFlex Corporation Ten Roadway Avenue Providence, RI 00021

The reader’s address for an individual would look like this:

Mr. Richard Hold 12357 Village Green, Apt. #25 Belworth, MA 01602

Since your main objective when writing a letter is to get the reader’s attention fast, be sure to personalize your message whenever possible. Try to open your letter with a person’s name. If you can’t, then write “Dear Sir or Madam.” “To whom it may concern” is as old and bland as Lawrence Welk reruns.

The next question is whether to use a colon, comma, or dash after the salutation. Generally, the colon is more formal and is appropriate for everything from daily business letters to invitations to, say, a $5,000-a-plate fund-raising dinner:

Dear Governor Winthrop:

However, the comma is less formal, more friendly, and a more personal way to greet your reader.

Check: Whether you’ve addressed the person consistently in both salutation and return address.

Begin your first paragraph two lines below the salutation. Think space appeal here, and limit your opener to two to five lines. Beware of one-line paragraphs, which seem skimpy.Check: Size and friendliness of the first line.

Here’s where most people collect words like freebies at a yard sale. Remember to make the body of your letter desirable by

Check: Size of paragraphs and the amount of information in each one.

According to one old saying, give readers a one-page letter and they may read that page; give readers a two-page letter and they will ignore both. But what if you have more information then will fit on a single page? The answer’s easy: create enclosures, whether lists, paragraphs, or directions detailing new procedures.

If you just have to write a second page, type the reader’s name on the top line, 1 1/2 inches from the top, the date on the next line, and “page” and the page number one line below that, shown here:

Dr. Leonard Fuller March 18, 1993 Page 2

Check: Whether you truly need that second page. If you do, just make sure you don’t have a few words hanging on the top of the page or, even worse, that you don’t devote an entire page to a signature block with a wash of white space beneath it.

Closing paragraph

Your closing paragraph is more than a good-bye. It’s where you mention enclosures — whether articles, forms, or information sheets — and make future plans. Keep your paragraphs short and sweet:

I have enclosed a brochure about our winter retreat. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Also, make sure your message is as proactive as possible. Rather than say:

Call me if you are interested.

say:

I’ll call you next week unless I hear from you sooner.

Check: Whether you’ve included a specific date for your next contact.

Complimentary closing

Place your closing two lines below the end of the closing paragraph. Stick with the professional yet personal “Sincerely” unless you know the person well. Don’t bother with “Very truly yours” — it’s boring and old-fashioned. And avoid “Thanking you in advance,” and other variations on the thank-you theme unless your reader has actually done something for you.

Check: Relax, complimentary closings are hard to overlook.

Signature block

At the end of your letter, leave three lines of blank space for your signature. Type your name and position beneath that if it’s not on your letterhead. Then sign:

Sincerly, Ann Marie Doherty Human Resource Representative

Check: Oddly, plenty of people forget to sign their letters. So check.

Enclosure line and copies distributed

Let your reader know when you have enclosed materials by including an enclosure line two spaces beneath the typed signature in one of these ways:

	Enclosure
	Enclosures (3)
	Encl.
	Encl. Financial reports
	Encl. 3 (pages)

The letter c, which stands for “copy,” has replaced the “cc,” or “carbon copy,” of old. It follows the enclosure line and lets the reader know of anyone else who received the letter. List the names in alphabetical order or by rank:

	c. Tom Burns
	Lily Stanforde
	Tina Rank
	c. Office of the President Senior Manager’s Office

Check: Correct use of enclosure and copy lines.