Business Communication and Correspondence
Purpose before prose
Every business message has a purpose: to inform, to request, to persuade, to record, or to refuse. A candidate must be able to select the right channel - letter for formal external records, email for routine speed, memorandum for internal instruction, notice for one-to-many announcement - and to match tone to audience. The classic structure is: state the purpose in the opening, give the necessary detail in the middle, and close with the required action or a courteous sign-off.
The seven Cs as a checklist
Clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, courteous. Use them as a diagnostic: if a draft is vague ("soon"), wordy, or missing the deadline, it fails the checklist. Prefer active voice and plain words; "We will send the invoice on Friday" beats "The invoice will be forwarded at the earliest opportunity."
Traps to watch
- Confusing "complimentary close" (Yours faithfully / Yours sincerely) rules: "Dear Sir or Madam" pairs with "Yours faithfully"; a named recipient pairs with "Yours sincerely".
- Using a memorandum format for an external party.
- Writing a refusal without an alternative or a reason.
- Sending bad news buried in the middle of a long paragraph rather than acknowledged early and handled courteously.
- Replying-all with confidential content.
Worked rule of thumb
For a complaint response: thank the customer, restate the problem in one sentence to show understanding, explain what happened without excuses, state the remedy and the date, apologise once and sincerely, and give a named contact. That five-part pattern answers most scenario questions.
Records and etiquette
Keep copies of significant correspondence in the file, quote reference numbers, and never put in writing what you would not say in person.