Business Letters: How to Write Letters That Get Business and Keep It
A short reference guide by Calvin O. Althouse, published by the Penn Publishing Company in Philadelphia for office workers who write letters every day. Its 14 chapters move from mechanics to selling.
What it is
A short reference guide by Calvin O. Althouse, published by the Penn Publishing Company in Philadelphia for office workers who write letters every day. Its 14 chapters move from mechanics to selling. The first set out the parts of a letter, how to punctuate headings and salutations, and the qualities of good wording: brevity, terseness, clearness, coherence and courtesy, each shown with a poor letter and a rewrite. Middle chapters cover letters of information, application, introduction and ordering. Chapter VII, 'Business Getters', names five things a sales letter must handle: the opening, clearness, the buyer himself, an inducement and a strong closing, with worked examples such as a magazine's free dictionary offer with a closing date. Later chapters treat collection letters, circular and form letters, a list of stock phrases to avoid, postal rules, and finally checks, drafts and promissory notes.
Why read it now
Most of the book is etiquette for the typed page, and that part has dated: indents measured in typewriter points, the rule that 'Dear Friend' is vulgar, postal rates and bank drafts. The selling chapters hold up. The five-point list for a sales letter is close to any current checklist for a landing page or ad: win the first line, be clear, know the buyer, give a reason to prefer your offer, and close with one easy action. The circular-letter chapter judges cost by the expense per reply received, not by printing cost, the same logic as cost per lead today. The collection advice, treat the debtor as a customer and never plead your own cash trouble, protects the next order. What is thin: there are no tests or return figures, so its claims rest on assertion, and the dictionary letter leans on a supply limit and deadline the reader cannot check. Use: take the list of phrases to avoid, such as 'Beg to advise' and 'Yours at hand', and write the Arabic equivalent for your team's email and WhatsApp templates, cutting the stock formal openings that readers skip.
Passages worth keeping
Say what you mean, say it clearly, and say it only once.
الوضوح يعني أن تقول مقصودك بلفظ صريح مرة واحدة، فالتكرار لا يقوّي الرسالة بل يبعثرها.
Every one knows what a big percentage of the morning's mail finds its way to the waste-basket.
أغلب ما يصل في بريد الصباح ينتهي في سلة المهملات، فالرسالة التي لا تُكتب لقارئ محدد تضيع كما يضيع السهم في الظلام.
If he's not interested in your first sentence or two he may go no further.
القارئ يحكم على الرسالة من جملتها الأولى أو الثانية، فإن لم تشد اهتمامه توقف عن القراءة.
It is always a mistake to confess weakness until you have to.
في رسائل التحصيل لا تشكُ للمدين حاجتك إلى المال، لأن ذلك يضعف موقفك ويثير شكه في صدقك.
Not the amount paid for the circulars, but the expense per reply received is the proper method of estimating cost.
تكلفة الحملة تقاس بما دفعته مقابل كل رد وصلك، لا بثمن طباعة الرسائل، وهي الفكرة نفسها وراء تكلفة العميل المحتمل اليوم.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
Read the original archive.org
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.