Business Letter Templates

While there is some creative leeway in drafting your correspondence, there are also several business letter templates that are more acceptable than others. Uniformity ought to be the biggest sin in the office place. Fifty workers in similar dress slacks, suits, skirts, and ties can have a stultifying effect on anyone with a shred of originality. That said, your business letters aren't the place to showcase your individuality.

As with all writing, drafting business letters involves consideration of your audience. Are you writing to your board members? Your share-holders? Your accountant? Your best friend, who also happens to be your attorney? Each of these scenarios may call for different business letter templates. Still, there are a few elements each of these missives should have.

Your Business Letter Templates

Think back to first grade, and you may recall learning about salutations, bodies, closings, and signatures. Add to this list "dates," and you have the tent poles of every effective note. Your salutation may be formal, friendly, warm, or nothing more than a name and a colon, but you still need one either way. The body, or the contents of your letter, may be short, long, or of moderate length. The closing, like the salutation, may be affectionate, professional, commanding, or personal. And the signature should be bold but not Hancockian, demonstrating your respect for your own name.

There are books that compare various business letter templates and attempt to define which ones are most suitable in which situations. While these business writing books can be helpful, you'll still want to bring to the table your own sense of appropriateness, as you are a better judge of your relationship with your business contacts than a couple of authors are. Armed with a few tools, you'll never have to feel queasy about your business writing again. Keep in mind that rules are meant to be broken--only, of course, after they've first been mastered.