Coleman Edward - The AMA handbook of business letters

The
AMA

Handbook of
Business
Letters

Fourth Edition

Fourth Edition

Jeffrey L. Seglin and Edward Coleman

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This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Seglin, Jeffrey L., 1956

The AMA handbook of business letters / Jeffrey L. Seglin and Edward Coleman. 4th ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-8144-2012-6 (hbk.)

1. Commercial correspondenceHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Letter writingHandbooks, manuals, etc. I. Coleman, Edward, 1968- II. Amacom. III. Title. IV. Title: Handbook of business letters. V. Title: American Management Association handbook of business letters.

HF5726.S42 2012

651.7'5dc23

2012005590

2012 Jeffrey L. Seglin
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

The scanning, uploading, or distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the express permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions of this work and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials, electronically or otherwise. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.

About AMA
American Management Association ( www.amanet.org ) is a world leader in talent development, advancing the skills of individuals to drive business success. Our mission is to support the goals of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services, including classroom and virtual seminars, webcasts, webinars, podcasts, conferences, corporate and government solutions, business books, and research. AMAs approach to improving performance combines experiential learninglearning through doingwith opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of ones career journey.

Printing number

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The letters in this book are available online in easily customizable format at www.amacombooks.org/go/AMAHbkBizLts4 .

Its remarkable how quickly the years have passed since the publication of the first edition of The AMA Handbook of Business Letters. While much has changed during that time, the basic fundamentals of letter writing have remained the same. Still, we felt it was time that we updated the book with a much wider selection of model letters as well as updates to reflect todays work setting.

People in all walks of the business world are in need of a book that can help them hone their letter-writing skills. The AMA Handbook of Business Letters is designed to answer that need. It will arm you with both the skills needed to be good letter writers and more than 370 model letters on which to base your own correspondence. The AMA Handbook of Business Letters will not just show you how to write better letters, it will show you how to write better.

Sections on grammar and usage in the first part of the book complement the sections on basic letter-writing skills. The second part of The AMA Handbook of Business Letters is the heart of the book. Here, more than 370 model letters have been collected. The vast majority of them are based on actual letters that were used in business. They were chosen to represent the broad spectrum of the type of letters businesspeople will most commonly have to write. We have fictionalized the names of the people, companies, and products in the letters. If a name resembles an actual name, it is purely by coincidence.

Many of the sample letters in .

features two appendixes that give tips on frequently misused words and punctuation.

Many people assisted us with this new edition. In particular, our spouses, Nancy Seglin and Lisa Freiman, were supportive of our efforts. And Bethany and David Whitemyer were invaluable in ensuring that this new edition came to pass.

For assistance on this and previous editions, wed like to thank: Peggy R. Broekel, Michaela Coleman, Tess Coleman, Donna Reiss Friedman, Loren Gary, Beall D. Gary Jr., Mary Glenn, Robert Griffin, Dr. Lindsey Harlan, Adrienne Hickey, Martha Jewett, Joan Kenney, Jim Lewis, Evan Marshall, Christina Parisi, Sam Mickelberg, Howard Palay, Patti Palay, Pat Richardson, Robert Roen, Louis J. Roffinoli, Matthew Rovner, Lester Seglin, Mike Sivilli, Mark Stoeckle, Lisa Tieszen, John Waggoner, Evan Whitemyer, Lucas Whitemyer, and Tom Williams.

We are particularly grateful to Hank Kennedy, president of AMACOM Books, for having the wisdom to believe that the time was right for a new edition of our book. Erika Spelman and Andy Ambraziejus were terrific shepherds of the book as it made its way through the production process. And Debbie Posners substantial work as copyeditor as well as Jacqueline Laks Gormans work as proofreader on this new edition make it a far better book than it would have been without the benefit of their extraordinary skills. We also thank our editors Ellen Kadin and William Helms at AMACOM.

Were also grateful to readers of previous editions who have sent us letters or emails with questions, suggestions, or ideas for this new edition. In an effort to continue to make future editions of the book as useful as possible, wed like to ask your help once again. If you have ideas for new features or types of letters youd like to see included in future editions, or if you have observations or questions, email them to us at: .

Jeffrey L. Seglin, Boston, Massachusetts
Edward Coleman, Indianapolis, Indiana

The
AMA

Handbook of
Business
Letters

Fourth Edition

All letters methinks, should be as free
and easy as ones discourse,
not studied as an oration....

Dorothy Osborne (Lady Temple), letter to Sir William Temple, October 1653

Successful professionals know the importance of effective letter writing. You cant have a good business relationship with customers if they dont know what youre trying to tell them in a letter. The services or products of a company cant be marketed if a prospective customer is baffled by the service or product described. How can a salesperson expect to make a sale when, because of a muddled letter, the prospect cant even understand what it is thats being sold?

Letter writing is crucial to the success of every professional. Without letter-writing skills, the professionals effectiveness is stymied.

Our objective in The AMA Handbook of Business Letters