The Book of Business Etiquette by Nella Braddy Henney

Author:Nella Braddy Henney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A complete guide for a gentleman's conduct in all everyday situations including table manners, street etiquette, partying, evening functions, morning call, Full directions for polite correspondence, dress, conversation, sports, and hints and tips for a successful dashing gentleman.Nella Braddy Henney is one of the leading American business etiquette and protocol experts, the author of The The Book of Business Etiquette ISBN: 9781910343210, published by The Big Nest www.thebignest.co.uk in the Business Library series.Business, business Etiquette, Etiquette, business courtesy, manners, polite, society, good manners, gentlemen, fashion, style, social, personal
Publisher: The Big Nest
Published: 2014-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

8. THE BUSINESS OF WRITING

Half the business letters which are written should never be written at all, and of the other half so many are incomplete or incoherent that a transaction which could be finished and filed away in two letters frequently requires six or eight.

A good letter is the result of clear thinking and careful planning. In the case of the sales-letter it sometimes takes several weeks to write one, but for ordinary correspondence a few minutes is usually all that is necessary. The length of time does not matter—it is the sort of letter which is produced at the end of it.

Books of commercial correspondence give a number of rules and standards by which a letter can be measured. But all rules of thumb are dangerous, and there are only two items which are essential. Theothers are valuable only as they contribute to them. The letter must succeed in getting its idea across and it must build up good will for its firm. And the best one is the one which accomplishes this most courteously and most completely in the briefest space of time (and paper).

There should be a reason back of every letter if it is only to say “Thank you” to a customer. Too much of our national energy goes up in waste effort, in aimless advertising, worthless salesmanship, ineffective letter writing, and in a thousand and one other ways. A lot of it is hammered out on the typewriters transcribing perfectly useless letters to paper which might really be worth something if it were given over to a different purpose.

A good letter never attracts the mind of the reader to itself as a thingapart from its contents. Last year a publishing house sent out a hundred test letters advertising one of their books. Three answers came back, none of them ordering the book, but all three praising the letter. One was from a teacher of commercial English who declared that he was going to use it as a model in his classes, and the other two congratulated the firm on having so excellent a correspondent.The physical make-up of the letter was attractive, it was written by a college graduate and couched in clear, correct, and colorful English. And yet it was no good. No letter and no advertisement is any good which calls attention to itself instead of the message it is trying to deliver.

There is not much room for individuality in the make-up of a letter. Custom has standardized it, and startling variations from the conventional format indicates freakishness rather than originality. They are like that astonishing gentleman who walks up Fifth Avenue on the coldest mornings in the year, bareheaded, coatless, sockless, clad in white flannels and tennis slippers. He attracts attention, but he makes us shiver.

Plain white paper of good quality is always in good taste. Certain dull-tinted papers are not bad, but gaudy colors, flashy designs, and ornate letter heads are taboo in all high types of business. Simple headings giving explicit and useful information are best.

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