All business letters have a clear purpose. You need to make sure that that purpose is explained clearly to your reader. You also need to make sure that the reader has enough supplementary information to understand that purpose clearly. Beyond that, anything else is ‘waffle’ and shouldn’t be there. Aim wherever possible to fit your letter onto one side of paper.

Many people think that they have to write in some archaic style. This may have been the case fifty years ago but it is not true now. Write as you speak. Use short words and sentences and active, not passive, verb forms.

Use the AIDA format from direct mailing to make your letters interesting to read.

Attention – Attract your reader’s attention by briefly stating your purpose in writing.

Interest – Arouse the person’s curiosity about what you are saying

Desire – Make your proposal sound interesting and attractive

Action – Explain clearly what action you expect the reader to take

It’s a good idea to order your thoughts before you start writing the letter. One idea is to make short notes of the keypoints.

Reread the letter when you have finished. Some people try to edit as they go along and this can often cause the letter to appear disjointed and lacking in fluency. Once you have finished, you get a chance to take an overview of the letter, seeing what’s wrong, what’s missing and what’s unnecessary.

Make sure you use a spellchecker and that you punctuate your letter properly. Where possible, get somebody else to read over your letter. They will often find errors that you have not seen yourself.

Above all, when you are writing, keep a clear vision of the person you are writing to in your head. You are not writing some dry academic thesis, you are communicating to a real person.