- •1. An introduction to business writting
- •What are the purposes for writing business letters?
- •What strategies can be used to achieve your purpose?
- •Why is it important to analyze the audience you are writing to?
- •What categories of audience do you know? Can you characterize them?
- •2. Business letter layout
- •2.5 What does the letterhead consist of? What types of companies can you come across in the letterhead? How you should write dates?
- •2.6 What courtesy titles do you know? What other titles can you use to address a person you are writing to?
- •2.7 What are the ways of addressing a letter? (when you know only a department, the company etc.)
- •2.8 What do we need references for? Is attention line optional or compulsory?
- •2.9 What is salutation followed by? When can we use the phrase “To Whom It May Concern”?
- •2.10 What is the role of the subject line in a business letter?
- •2.11 What are the paragraphs of a business letter? What does each of them serve for?
- •What does a signature block include? What does p.P. Stand for?
- •What are the last two components of a business letter? What do the abbreviations cc: and bc: stand for?
- •What are the formats of business letters? What are the differences between them?
- •Content and style in business correspondence.
- •Why do executives prefer written documents to other forms of communication?
- •10. Keep your sentence average length low
- •11. Use simple words rather than complex ones
- •12. Order and sequence
- •13. Use active verbs rather than passive verbs
- •14. Prepositions
- •What are the format guidelines?
- •What are the types of memos? Can you characterize them?
- •5. Sales letter
- •What’s a sales letter and what’s its job?
- •Is any other support literature needed and what is it needed for?
- •What should a sales letter be in order to sell?
- •What is people’s motivation to buy based on and what does it mean for writing a sales letter?
- •How do you understand “buying resistance”?
- •Could you name seven universal motivations?
- •What are the steps in sales letter writing?
- •Why is it important to catch your reader’s attention from the very beginning?
- •What’s the first thing your reader will look at?
- •Can you give any examples of headlines? Why are these headlines proven to get your reader’s attention?
- •Can you describe “problem-agitate technique”?
- •What do you do after identifying the problem?
- •What examples of credentials can you provide?
- •What should you point out in your sales letter: benefits or features of your product or service?
- •What besides benefits could be considered as powerful selling tools?
- •What do the best offers comprise?
- •What extra incentive can you give in your sales letter?
- •There is one more most read element in sales letters. What’s it?
- •What are the parts of a sales letter? Can you characterize them?
- •6. Resume
- •6.2. What’re the two basic resume designs and what’s the choice of your resume design based on?
- •6.8 What information do you present in the body of a resume and how is it arranged?
- •6.9 What information should you provide under the “work experience” title?
- •6.10 What should you do if you can’t keep all the details about your experience and education at one page?
- •6.11 What follows the experience section?
- •6.12 What do you write in the conclusion?
- •6.13 Why do we need letters of recommendation?
- •6.14 What are the way of presenting a letter of recommendation? Which way is better? Why?
- •7. Cover letter.
- •7.6 Characterize the body of the Cover Letter and the two approaches which can be used here.
- •7.11 What shouldn’t you say explaining why you left the previous positions?
- •7.12 How to explain why you are applying for the position?
- •8. Inquiry
- •What is usually asked for in the body of an inquiry?
- •9. Replies to inquiries.
- •9.1 What are the general rules for writing a reply to an inquiry?
- •9.2 What should you do if you received an inquiry erroneously?
- •9.3 What are the parts of a reply? (3)
- •10. Quotations
- •10.4 What should be mentioned in a quotation?
- •10.5 Are the prices quoted always legally binding?
- •10.6 What types of discounts do you know?
- •10.7 What main Incoterms do you know?
- •10.8 What are the two ways of quoting terms?
- •11. Offers
- •11.1 Types of offers.
- •11.2 Parts of offers.
- •12. Counter-Proposals
- •13.Orders
- •The reasons for refusing an order:
- •14. Complaints
- •14.1 What is a complaint, its objective and scope?
- •14.2 The essential rule in writing complaints
- •14.4 What may complaints arise from?
- •14.5 What are the parts of complaints? Characterize them.
- •15. Adjustments
- •15.1 The objective of an adjustment
- •15.2 The rules for writing adjustments
- •15.3. The parts of adjustments
- •15.4 The ways of correcting mistakes which have been made?
- •15.5 The reasons for rejecting complaints
How do you understand “buying resistance”?
In the beginning people don’t want to buy smth or they can hesitate over a choice. They give many spoken and unspoken comments such as: “You don’t understand my problem”, “How do I know you’re qualified?”, “I don’t believe you”, “I don’t need it right now”, “It won’t work for me”, “What happens if I don’t like it?”, “I can’t afford it”.
Could you name seven universal motivations?
There are only two things that truly motivate people and they are the promise of gain or the fear of loss. Of the two, the fear of loss is the stronger motivator. You would rather buy a $50 course on “How to Stop Your Divorce” than “How to Improve Your Marriage” because it addresses the fear of loss. There are seven “universal motivations” to which everyone responds (are what people really want): To be wealthy, To be good looking, To be healthy, To be popular, To have security, To achieve inner peace, To have free time, To have fun. The product or service is just a vehicle to providing these benefits so make sure your sales letter focuses on these motivational factors.
What are the steps in sales letter writing?
These are the steps help to write a sales letter, each of them add to reader’s emotions while calming their fears:
Get attention
Identify the problem
Provide the solution
Present your credentials
Show the benefits
Give social proof
Make your offer
Inject scarcity
Give a guarantee
Call to action
Give a warning or Close with a reminder
Why is it important to catch your reader’s attention from the very beginning?
The headline is the first thing that your reader will look at. If it doesn’t catch his attention you can kiss your letter goodbye. If the headline doesn’t call out to them and pique their interest, they will just stop and throw your letter away.
What’s the first thing your reader will look at?
The headline is the first thing that your reader will look at.
Can you give any examples of headlines? Why are these headlines proven to get your reader’s attention?
The following are three headline generating templates that are proven to get attention. ”HOW TO _____________________” People love to know how to do things. When combined with a powerful benefit the “How to…” headline always gets people’s attention (the two most powerful words you can use in a headline). SECRETS OF _________________ REVEALED!” We love to know things that other people aren’t privy to. Knowledge is power and those who have it feel powerful. Besides that, most of us enjoy a good mystery, especially in the end when the “secret” is revealed. WARNING: DON’T EVEN THINK OF ___________ UNTIL YOU ___________. People are motivated by fear of loss more than the promise of gain. The word “warning” demands attention and combined with something of interest to the reader, is a very powerful headline.