Our letter writing course will allow delegates to gain useful letter writing tools, tips and techniques and also includes constructive letter and report templates. Delegates who have trained with us have effectively applied the skills gained from this course to their everyday workplace correspondence. This productive course will also demonstrate the particulars of writing effective emails, whilst improving punctuation and grammar.
All organisations need to convey a professional image in every way to stay ahead of the competition. It is paramount that all pieces of written documentation are faultless. As your professional reputation can be enhanced or ruined by your correspondence, it is essential that the style, content and message is concise, correct and appropriate.
How to make a letter interesting to read
You will need to consider the following aspects or issues.
- What style should I adopt? Friendly or formal, and should the tone be familiar or distant? Should the letter be ‘wordy’ or quite short?
- Could the information be displayed better using graphs or pictures? To what extent can I use jargon or professional language?
- Think back to your objective. You either want the reader to do, have or be something different after receiving your letter. So which approach will be more effective? Authoritative? Informative? Persuasive? Empathetic?
YOU’RE WRITING TO A PERSON REMEMBER!
Make sure your reader feels important by using their full and correct title, initials and address. Make sure the contents are specific to them, and not generalised. Avoid using words like ‘the client’.
Write in a friendly tone using plain English, and as one adult to another. Make sure you are neither patronising nor defensive. Whenever possible write as though you are talking to your reader. Use a conversational style with short familiar words.
WRITE A PRODUCTIVE LETTER
Make sure your letter is effective by addressing all the relevant points or issues. Make it easy to read by progressing logically through a series of related topics or concepts.
Comply with any organisation layout standards, and ensure that your letter is grammatically correct and properly punctuated. The approach today is ‘Less is best’.
Make sure your letter is complete, and includes all other relevant documents or materials. If you are asking your reader to do something, clearly explain the benefits to them of complying with your request. Whenever possible write your letter so that it closes off the correspondence.
BE POSITIVE
Help the reader achieve your objective by using positive and active words, and concentrating on what you can do rather than what you cannot do. Ensure that your letter is neither misleading nor difficult to read.
Focus on what’s going to happen in the future and, if you are apologising for an error, avoid apportioning blame for the past. Always to retain the reader’s self esteem, especially if you are correcting a misunderstanding.
Finally always make it clear what the reader needs to do next, and by when.
PRESENT A PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
A letter gives you a superb opportunity to project a professional image, so ensure that your letters are attractive to look at and interesting to read. Use lots of ‘white space’ and avoid closely packed, dense text which looks quite threatening as well as being hard to read.
Check the length of your sentences; on average they should have 15-20 words. Much longer and people will need to re-read them before understanding the message. Itemise key points for easy reference by using bullet points where appropriate.
Avoid writing waffle and take care with professional or industry jargon. The reader may not understand what you mean.
Whenever possible have the letter signed by the person whose name appears in the ‘signature block’ at the end of the letter.
Letter and Report writing course
Our letter and report writing course is tailored to the needs of delegates who already retain business writing skills and those who would like to gain further knowledge on:
- how to write a good report
- how to write effective letters
- how to write professionally
- how to write confidently
- how to write a standard letter
- how to write a formal report
- how to write a complaint letter
Course Dates
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Who will benefit from the course?
What are the best ways to produce effective letters and reports? This course is designed to lead to practical skills to enable delegates to be both competent and confident in their written communication. Our courses allow all staff to benefit from enhanced writing skills. The types of delegate we have trained previously are:
- Directors and senior managers
- Sales and fundraising staff
- Local government employees
- Managers, department heads, team leaders and supervisors
- Technical and academic team members
- Customer service staff
In-Company Courses
Total Success have developed a series of in-house training modules. These are designed so that an organisation can pick the training which is more applicable to its own needs and budget. Please call us to discuss your specific requirements
Total Success Training Packs
Why use a total success training pack
If you are looking to run your own training course but lack the materials and the time to develop a fully functional training seminar we produce a range of training materials and packs which will suit your requirements exactly. All of our packs and been written by our own training experts and we can guarantee that the training pack will satisfy your course requirements. Each pack will contain a full set of PowerPoint training slides, trainer’s notes, a course manual, and a full set of handouts and activities.
We have been running our courses since 1995 and have trained 1000’s of people via open courses and in-company seminars. We guarantee that the course you buy is the one we train. All courses are trainer and trainee friendly so you’ll be up and running quickly (depending on your training experience).
We know how difficult it is to choose amongst the many training materials available on line, that’s why we have 3 packages that will suit you needs. With our gold, silver and bronze packages you can choose the training format that’s right for you and your budget. Call us 0044 (0)208 269 1177 to discuss your requirements or email us info@totalsuccess.co.uk
Related information
Total success training also produced a number of newsletter webpages that carry great information on all our training topics. Below you will find a selection of related newsletter pages. You can click on any of the links and they will give you stacks of really interesting information relating to this subject t. If you like the content of these pages you can subscribe to our newsletter page and we will send you a newsletter every month. we update our pages very regularly so will always be more great information each time you log onto our site.
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – Checklist for dealing with letters of complaints
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – How to deal with letters of complaints
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – How to plan writing a letter
- Letter and Report writing Skills – Checklist for writing letters
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – Is your letter ready to be sent?
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – How to present a letter
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – How to make a letter interesting to read
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – Top Tips for writing Effective Emails
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – What is the sequence of a report
- Letter and Report Writing Skills – Practical Guide to Punctuation
- Training Course Management Checklists
