Writing business letters with a personal touch / Deborah Whittlesey Sharp

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chapter 1. Requesting Information and Action -- Chapter 2. Giving Information -- Chapter 3. Granting, Refusing, and Apologizing -- Chapter 4. Complaining and Protesting -- Chapter 5. Persuading -- Chapter 6. Rejecting -- Chapter 7. Evaluating, Reprimanding, and Dismissing -- Chapter 8. Applying, Resigning, and Recommending -- Chapter 9. Collecting, Soliciting, and Responding appropriately -- Chapter 10. Extending thanks, Goodwill, and Condolence.

In today's high-tech, megacorp, megabucks atmosphere it is easy to forget that business is still essentially what it has always been-transactions between people. You may sometimes forget this, but your customers, clients, and colleagues don't. When your letters and memos are impersonal because they are written in the stiff formalities of the past or the dehumanizing technical jargon of the present, they won't get the results you want. People resent being treated like cogs in a corporate wheel, and they show their resentment by ignoring what you want them to hear or do. What's the solution? The best one, of course, is conversation. But the limitations of time and distance make frequent business conversations impossible. The next best thing is letters and memos written in the direct, down-to-earth style of conversation, a style that captures and holds your readers' attention as you would if you could talk to them face to face.