17 External Written Communication
Module 17: External Written Communication
- Learning Outcomes
- Introduction
- Business Letters
- Press Releases and Public Notices
- Inviting Tenders
- Summary
1. Module 17: External Written Communication
2. Learning Outcomes:
· familiarise themselves with various kinds of external communication
· communicate effectively outside the organization through written communication
3. Introduction:
On a daily basis every organization interacts with its external environment. This interaction is in the form of exchange of information. The information is exchanged with various stakeholders present outside the business entity. Examples of such stakeholders include customers, intermediaries, suppliers, shareholders, media, government, and society in general. A poor external communication largely impacts on the image of a business and hampers its future prospects. When employees of an organization interact with people and entities present external to their organization, they can choose both oral and written communication methods. For the purpose of record keeping, legality, standardization, and specificity, written communication is preferred over oral communication. In external written communication people and organizations operating outside of the business are contacted using written communication tools. Opposite to an internal communication, external communication is used to extend information to external stakeholders and persuade them to act in a desired manner. Most common ways of communicating with external stakeholders using written method are business letters, press releases, and tenders etc. Each option is having a specific purpose to serve. Depending upon their suitability to situation, a particular option is exercised over the other.
4. Business Letters:
Business letter is the most common and popular form of external written communication. Nicely printed business letters put in attractive envelopes is also used as a persuasive strategy by the organizations. Earlier postal letters have now changed its shape. With the advent of newer technology business letters are now sent via email. Business letters can be of several types depending upon the purpose for which it is written. In case of writing a business letter two broad things need to be kept in mind. First, structure and layout of the letter and second, the context for which letter is written. Context also decides the type of a business letter such as enquiry letter, sales letter, good news letter, and bad news letter. Both the aspects of business letter writing are discussed below.
4.1. Structure and Layout of business letter: In order to communicate the information effectively through a business letter, the message of the letter must be organized properly. Business letter writing must follow all the principles of effective writing such as clarity, conciseness, completeness, courtesy, correctness, concreteness, and consideration. Apart from following the writing principles it is important to understand the basic components of letter. Basic components of a business letter are:
· Address: It is the starting point of a letter. It provides information about the sender of the letter including name, designation, name of the organization and place of the organization along with pin code. This address is followed by the details about the recipient of the letter including name, designation, name of the organization and place of the organization along with pin code. Next part of this component is to mention date. The date has to be mentioned in a particular format like complete name of month, date, and complete year (e.g. November 10, 2001).
· Title and Salutation: In order to standardise and remove ambiguity you can address recipients as Mr or Ms. Also, Dear Sir or Dear Madam could be used for official correspondence. If you are communicating with the recipient frequently then you can use Dear Mr Raghu to give a personal and informal touch.
· Body of letter: Body of a letter is its main part. It can be further divided into three sections. The first section points out towards the purpose of the letter and mentions the reason for writing the letter. The second section convey the details and describe the supportive information for section one. Finally, the last section discusses the expected actions or reactions for statements made under the letter.
· Closing: Closing of a business letter is equally important. It is also known as complimentary close where a single sentence followed by a phrase is mentioned. For example, ‘Looking for an early meeting’ followed by ‘Yours Sincerely’. After a complementary closing, Signature is marked and name of the sender is written. if the sender wishes, he or she can add few more information like contact number or email id.
Once the components of a business letter are clear, it is important to decide about the layout of the letter. A layout of a letter is considered as the appearance of a letter. How the information would be arranged in a letter is decided by its layout? Although it is totally the decision of an organization regarding the appearance of a letter, still few widely accepted styles are available. By observing business letters worldwide, few similarities of letter writing styles can be observed. Few of the accepted letter layouts are indented, semi- indented, hanging paragraph, full block, semi-block and modified block styles. On popularity, full block and modified block style of layout are widely accepted.
The characteristics of a full block layout are that all the information on the letter is left aligned and no punctuation related formalities are followed. Following is the sample and example of full block layout:
Letter Head
Sender’s Address
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Date: (Month Date, Year)
Receiver’s Name
Designation
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Salutation: (Dear Sir/ Madam)
Subject: (Specific title line of the subject)
Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph
Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph
Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph Body Paragraph
Complementary Close: (Sincerely yours)
Sender’s Signature
Sender’s Name
Enclosures
Heera Retail Stores
29, Stone Lane
26th Street, Model Town
Madurai- 531008
Date: May 7, 2008
Mr. Ravi K Chowdhary
Sales Manager
TKC Pvt. Ltd.
Park Street
Kolkata- 471013
Dear Sir
Subject: Incomplete Delivery of the Order No. xxx/23/sg
We thank you for the prompt delivery of sports goods against order no. xxx/23/sg. As per my information we have been dealing with you for last ten years. During these years you have always fulfilled our orders and managed an ontime delivery.
Today, unfortunately, on opening the cartons we found 3 SS Cricket bats and 2 Yonex badminton racquets missing. This has happened for the first time. May be there is some lapse at the point of packaging of order.
Anyways, you are requested to look into the matter and complete the deficient order at the earliest.
Hoping for a continuing fruitful relationship.
Yours faithfully
Raj kumar
(Raj Kumar)
Proprietor
Enclosure: Copy of purchase order
On the other hand, in a modified full block layout style the sender’s address, date, complementary closing, signature, name of sender and designation are placed to the right of the centre of the page. Rest of the information is presented in a block style. The example presented above can be written as per the modified block layout in the following manner:
Heera Retail Stores
29, Stone Lane
26th Street, Model Town
Madurai- 531008
Date: May 7, 2008
Mr. Ravi K Chowdhary
Sales Manager
TKC Pvt. Ltd.
Park Street
Kolkata- 471013
Dear Sir
Subject: Incomplete Delivery of the Order No. xxx/23/sg
We thank you for the prompt delivery of sports goods against order no. xxx/23/sg. As per my information we have been dealing with you for last ten years. During these years you have always fulfilled our orders and managed an ontime delivery.
Today, unfortunately, on opening the cartons we found 3 SS Cricket bats and 2 Yonex badminton racquets missing. This has happened for the first time. May be there is some lapse at the point of packaging of order.
Anyways, you are requested to look into the matter and complete the deficient order at the earliest.
Hoping for a continuing fruitful relationship.
Yours faithfully
Raj kumar
(Raj Kumar)
Proprietor
Enclosure: Copy of purchase order
4.2. Types of business letter: Once you gain clarity about structure and layout of the letter, the next aspect of business letter writing is to understand the purpose of writing. Depending upon the purpose of the letter, business letters can be classified into different categories. Please note, the address part of each letter sample is deliberately omitted to avoid redundancy of information. While writing a business letter you are suggested to include the address of sender, date, address of receiver, and subject strictly as per the formats discussed above.
4.2.1. Sales Letter: A sales letter is one of the most commonly used business letter. Purpose of sales letter is to persuade customers or other stakeholders to act in a desired manner. Sales letters is like an advertisement in a letter form. Through sales letters potential customers can be tapped individually and these are used as a part of direct marketing campaign. A sales letter must discuss about the product and benefits offered to the prospective customers. It also mentions the advantages for making a quick decision about the purchase. These advantages could be availing discounts, free gifts, entry to a contest, and a limited offer price deal. A sales letter must possess an attractive opening to generate the interest of the reader followed by introduction of the product.
J&L Cosmetics Pvt. Ltd.
Dear Madam
Here comes an excellent opportunity to win wonderful prizes from J&L Cosmetics. The only simple thing you have to do is to provide the names, addresses, and phone numbers of 3 of your friends who use cosmetics.
That’s True! You heard it right. Just refer 3 of your friends by filling up enclosed
forms and you are straight away entitled to enter into a contest that could win you a
mega prize without paying a single paisa.
Grand Prize (1)
A free round trip for two to Sydney, Australia.
First Prize: (2)
One Year supply of J&L cosmetics to two lucky winners.
Second Prize: (20)
42” Sony Bravia LED television for next 20 lucky winners.
Consolation Prize: (100)
One month supply of J&L range of cosmetics to next 100 winners.
Just to remind you that products of J&L Cosmetics are the products of the times and follow international standards as far as quality is concerned. We are glad to inform you that number of satisfied customers of J&L Cosmetics has just doubled since last one year and we are happy to have you as our privileged customer.
Also to put icing on the cake, each person you refer to us will get a special gift hamper from our company. Please remember to refer only valid contacts to become eligible for the mega prize. We have enclosed postage paid envelop with this letter so that you don’t need to spend anything.
Hoping for a continuing fruitful relationship.
Yours faithfully
Ravish Singh
(Ravish Singh)
Chief-Manager: Marketing
Enclosure: Postage paid envelop and blank forms
4.2.2. Enquiry Letter: An enquiry letter is written when we are interested in gaining information from other organizations. These kind of enquires are generally sought for trading purpose. Letter of enquiries are also send at the time of entering into a new business, looking for new suppliers, interesting in becoming an agent, making an instant purchase etc. Such kind of letters must clearly specify about the information required, the duration within which information is required, and the format in which it is required. The broad areas of enquiries are related to asking for a catalogue, pricelist, demonstration, personal visit, terms and conditions, scope for product modification, warranties and mode of payment.
Diamond Sports
Dear Sir
We are into sales of sports goods since last 15 years and enjoy an excellent reputation in the market. Kindly inform us if you can supply the following sports goods in a months’ time.
| Sr No | Item Description | Quantity |
| 1 | SS Cricket Bat- Regular Size | 80 |
| 2 | Yonex -350 Shuttle Cocks | 75 boxes |
| 3 | Cosco- Tennis Balls (3 balls pack) | 70 boxes |
| 4 | Cosco- Basket Balls (Size 6) | 25 |
It would be helpful if you could mention their individual prices alongwith mode of payment, discounts, and other terms and conditions.
We would appreciate an early response.
Yours faithfully
J Ram
(Jeet Ram)
Partner
4.2.3. Reply Letter: Reply letters are written in response to a letter of enquiry. A reply letter has much of its relevance as it can result into a sale. From the business point of view an effective reply letter can convert an enquiry into order. Also, it shows the professionalism on the part of receiver of enquiry letter to provide prompt and desired information. Generally a reply letter is followed by a clarification and eventually an order. While writing a reply letter it is important to provide exact and accurate information about the queries mentioned in the enquiry letter. Try to provide detailed information to avoid any kind of ambiguity.
Excel Sports Ltd.
[Exclusive Distributors (North India) for all leading Sports Brands]
Dear Sir
First of all we thank you for showing interest in dealing with our organization. We are glad to inform you that our organization is into supply of sports related goods since last 25 years. We are having an exclusive dealership for almost all prominent sports brands.
As desired, following is the price of each item (inclusive of all taxes):
| Sr No | Item Description | Quantity | Price (INR) | Availability |
| 1 | SS Cricket Bat- Regular Size | 80 | 980 per piece | Yes |
| 2 | Yonex -350 Shuttle Cocks | 75 boxes | 480 per box | Yes |
| 3 | Cosco- Tennis Balls (3 balls pack) | 70 boxes | 240 per box | Yes |
| 4 | Cosco- Basket Balls (Size 6) | 25 | 560 per piece | Yes |
We also assure you the delivery of all required items within 30 days of receipt of the order. If you order within next five days, we commit to offer you a discount of 7% on the total billed amount. We accept payment strictly through cheques only. Apart from that we expect full payment within a week’s time of the delivery of the order.
Wishing for a prosperous relationship.
Yours sincerely
Rajeev Jaiswal
(Rajeev Jaiswal)
Owner
4.2.4. Order Letter: When both the parties i.e. buyer and seller are interested in entering into a contract, an order letter is written. From the buyer’s point of view, it is called as purchase order and from the seller’s side it becomes a sales order. When both purchase order and sales order are matching with each other a contract is created. As these letters are having a legal binding once contract is created detail description of product, price, quantity, mode of payment, time of delivery and specification has to be mentioned.
Diamond Sports
Dear Sir
Thank you very much for promptly replying to our queries. It is highly appreciable that you have provided all the information asked for. We found your rates highly competitive. We are also comfortable with your terms and conditions. Keeping all these things in mind we wish to place an order as per the following description:
| Sr No | Item Description | Quantity | Price (INR) | Amount (INR) |
| 1 | SS Cricket Bat- Regular Size | 80 | 980 per piece | 78400 |
| 2 | Yonex -350 Shuttle Cocks | 75 boxes | 480 per box | 36000 |
| 3 | Cosco- Tennis Balls (3 balls pack) | 70 boxes | 240 per box | 16800 |
| 4 | Cosco- Basket Balls (Size 6) | 25 | 560 piece | 14000 |
| TOTAL | 145200 |
Terms and conditions as stated in our previous communication vide letter no. xx/vbn/vbg
Kindly inform us the moment you dispatch the order.
Yours faithfully
J Ram
(Jeet Ram)
Partner
4.2.5. Complaint Letter: A complaint letter is written when there exist any error in the total process of buying and selling. It happens when expectations of buyer and sellers are not met after the transaction. A complaint can be written by a buyer as well as seller. Reason for buyer writing a complaint letter could be delayed delivery of order, order not in proper shape, wrong order delivery, and difference in terms and conditions as per prior discussion. On the other hand, a seller can write a complaint letter regarding non-payment, less payment, payment made under different mode, disagreement over claims made by buyer. Letter of complaint must clearly mention the point of discord. It should also mention the expected action to be taken by the other party. A letter of complaint should use a polite language in order to prevent any kind of damage to the future dealings.
Diamond Sports
April 6, 2004
Dear Sir
We are sorry to have to complain that our order no. sg/ss/dop dated February 16, 2004 for sports items under 4 categories, has not yet reached us. As per your commitment it should have been delivered on March 27, 2004.
During our earlier correspondence we have clearly mention about the time bound delivery. On the basis of your commitment of delivery of required goods, we have further promised those items to our loyal customers. We hope you will understand the kind of embarrassment we are facing due to this delay. It is the first time we are dealing with you and expecting a better service from your side.
We request you to look into the matter on a priority basis and ensure the speedy delivery of our order.
We strongly believe in creating long term business relationships.
Yours faithfully
J Ram
(Jeet Ram)
Partner
4.2.6. Positive News Letter: Under the category of positive news letters, all messages which are conveying pleasant information to the receivers are covered. These messages are also known as good news letters. While writing such letters a direct approach is adopted. Positive news could be in the form of acknowledging orders, approval of credit requested, granting of favours, letter of appointment, and letter of appreciation. While creating such messages the best news has to be conveyed in the very first paragraph along with an expression of pleasure. The second paragraph should answer all the queries with complete details and the final paragraph could mention the personal opinion of the sender.
DND Pvt Ltd
Dear Mr Kumar
In reference to your application and subsequent interview, I am glad to inform that you have been selected for the post of Junior Engineer. Please accept my heartiest congratulations. I wish you all success for your new assignment. Please do confirm your convenient date of joining by July 7, 2005.
With best wishes.
Yours sincerely
Vijayan
(P Vijayan)
Manager- HR
4.2.7. Negative News Letter: Just opposite to the positive news letters, all messages carrying unpleasant information are conveyed through negative news letters. These messages are also known as bad news letters. The purpose of a negative news letter is to convey the bad news without hurting the relationship. The receiver of the information must consider you fair and reasonable. The reasons for writing a negative message could be refusing the desired information, rejection of a proposal, inability to fulfil order, refusing adjustment or a claim, and declining requests for favours. It is suggested to use an indirect approach for conveying such messages. At the beginning of the message a pleasant or neutral thing to be conveyed that gives a cushion to the reader to handle the negative part. Then explain the reason regarding your inability to fulfil the desired information or request. You can also suggest few alternative ways to get the desired information. In the end always remember to close the message on a positive note. This will keep the doors open for future dealings.
Starlight Industries Ltd
Dear Sir
We express our gratitude to you for timely providing us the names and addresses of two guarantors. We are glad to inform you that both of them opined very high about your firm and having full faith in its progress.
However, we regret to inform you that we are not in a position to fulfil your order on credit. As we are dealing with you for the first time and it is against our company policy to execute a new dealing on credit. We are also in a process to find an alternative solution to the issue.
We feel sad for not supporting you at this point of time. We hope that you will understand rationality of the decision and in future provide us an opportunity to serve you better.
Yours sincerely
Shivam Parker
(Shivam Parker)
Manager- Sales and Marketing
5. Press Releases and Public Notices:
On many occasions an organization has to communicate with the external stakeholders to provide information or clarification related to a particular matter. This kind of written correspondence is done to project the company image. A person possessing the authority to do so prepares a press release. A press release has to be drafted in an understandable format. While preparing a press release must possess few characteristics such as newsworthiness, clarity, brevity, appropriate heading, carries the company image. Once the press release is ready, it is sent to the newspaper. It is at the discretion of the Editor of newspaper to publish the matter as it is or with some alterations. A sample of a press release:
Source:http://www.allsearch.ca/index.php?page=search/images&search=thomas+and+cook+india&type=images
A public notice is regarding an important announcement related to an issue. The purpose of a public notice is to inform all the people concerned with a given issue. A public notice must get an instant attention of a reader. Just like a press release it must possess characteristics like brevity, mentioning important information, and a suitable heading. A sample public notice is as follows:
Source: http://tmr.in/tmr_notice_original.php/66
- Inviting Tenders:
Many especially large companies also use a special written communication i.e. invitation to tender and bid. It is a special kind of notice. Tenders actually seek submission of estimates from interested parties for completion of advertised work. As per the guidelines, any party fulfilling the norms can respond to such communication for further processing. While drafting a tender invitation utmost care has to be taken. It must follow the format and guidelines prescribed for such kind of communication. A sample of tender notice is as follows:
Source: http://www.dailyshippingtimes.com/tender-notice.php
- Summary:
In external written communication people and organizations operating outside of the business are contacted using written communication tools. Most common ways of communicating with external stakeholders using written method are business letters, press releases, and tenders etc. Each option is having a specific purpose to serve. Depending upon their suitability to situation, a particular option is exercised over the other. Business letters can be of several types depending upon the purpose for which it is written. In case of writing a business letter two broad things need to be kept in mind. First, structure and layout of the letter and second, the context for which letter is written.
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