Truth 26. Letters: They live! And you need them

Even in the digital age, businesspeople use letters for building client relations, proposals, references, invitations, and all the other formal occasions of the business world. In each case, the step-by-step process will focus your thinking so you come up with the right presentation.

Of course, the line between an e-mail and a letter can be pretty blurry. We’re not necessarily defining a letter as a hard-copy document that is snail-mailed. It might be e-mailed, sent as a whole message or as an attachment. Regardless of the delivery system, you need to consciously decide when you are writing a letter and think it through as a letter for it to achieve your goal.

“Can we meet?”—Let’s turn to a classic business situation: writing a letter to request an appointment to present your product or service to a prospective client. Suppose you spoke with someone briefly at a networking event. Here’s one way to follow up:

Dear Jenny:

I enjoyed talking with you at the AALG meeting yesterday. You mentioned your interest in touring the Amazon, so I’m attaching information about an ecolodge a good friend of mine stayed in and highly recommends.

And, I will very much appreciate an opportunity to tell you about my company’s services as an HR outsourcing firm. We have served a number of companies in the medical lab industry, and were successful in saving them considerable money while improving their customer service systems.

May I have 10 minutes of your time to show you what Outsource Strategies can do for you?

Where did the ecolodge bit come from? Surprisingly often, you’ll see a chance to follow up even a brief exchange with some information of interest: the name of a book or restaurant… a source of data or new software…or best of all, a connection to someone the other person would like to know.

“Thanks for your time”—Margaret applied for a job recently that was just high enough on the corporate pecking order for her to make a brief appearance at a board of directors meeting. She knew she was on a short list but that there were at least two other candidates. So she went home and wrote a letter to every member of the board.

Briefly and respectfully, she thanked them for their time and expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity. Then she summarized in one carefully written paragraph why she was convinced she could do the job outstandingly. She took trouble to make the letters look good and delivered them to each board member’s workplace.

As the only candidate who wrote letters, Margaret got the job. Of course she was qualified, but so were her competitors. Writing the letter, and writing it well, gave her the edge, or so she is convinced.

It’s always good to take the trouble to thank people for their time, preferably by letter. This applies whether it involves a prospective client, a reference, a referral, a favor, a subordinate’s extra effort, or a supplier’s blowing out all the stops to deliver on time.

“Thanks but no thanks”—Often, the letter format is the most appropriate when delivering unwelcome news is the task. This is where looking at the situation from the other person’s viewpoint really pays off. Whether you’re discontinuing a supplier, rejecting a job candidate or canceling an office perk, your goals will generally be:

• Deliver the information unequivocally, leaving no room for argument or misunderstanding

• Minimize hostile reaction to your organization—and to you personally

• Reassure the recipient in some way

These goals suggest that you need to take responsibility for the decision—no cop-outs like “it has been decided.” You should show caring (but not emotion), and when possible, cite a reason for the action. If you can legitimately hold out hope for the future do so, or include other encouraging ideas. For example, you might offer the unsuccessful job candidate a connection to someone you know, or tell someone who has been denied promotion how to qualify next time.

Cushioning a blow this way, with real substance, works much better than the verbal cushioning often recommended for framing bad messages. The latter is sometimes called the “sandwich” approach: You start by saying something as positive as possible, then deliver the bad news, and close with expressions of good will and/or other reassurance. For example:

Dear Jim:

For more than 10 years, it’s been my pleasure to work with you and your company as a supplier of Part 32B. Unfailingly, we have found that you delivered on time, as promised, and met our specifications. Right now, however, I must tell you that next year’s contract has been awarded to another firm. A-Plus has grown so much that a national distribution network has become imperative.

Should circumstances change or other needs arise, be assured I would look forward to working with you again.

That’s okay, but consider that the opening paragraph delivers an unwelcome note of suspense (“uh, oh, I hear an ax falling…”) and moreover, doesn’t suit today’s accelerating tempo. We think most recipients will prefer the direct, get-it-over-with approach:

Dear Jim:

I am sorry to let you know that next year’s contract for Part 32B has been awarded to another firm. The reason is that Ajax’s growth the past year has made it imperative for us to have a national distribution network.

Please know that your excellent track record with us remains very much appreciated, and I hope we’ll have opportunities to work together in the future.

Of course, there are times when it’s appropriate to sugarcoat the facts. If you’re writing to a customer, for example, responding to a complaint or denying a request, you’d want to begin by setting a positive context and a feeling of relationship.

Generally, it’s a good rule to keep negative messages brief. Just as political history shows us that cover-ups always create much worse fallout than the original transgressions, bad-news messages that meander can generate bigger problems than the news itself. Generally, the less said the better.