BUSINESS LETTERS
NOT long ago the head of one of the biggest mail order firms in this
country said: "Business needs the boys and the girls. Do not let them
think they can be but cogs in the great system of wheels. More to-day
than at any previous time the world needs men and women who can speak
and write _themselves_ into English. Four hundred million dollars is
wasted every year in unprofitable advertising alone, and as much more in
bad handling of good prospects and loss of customers through inefficient
letters. We look to the future generation to conserve a part of this
enormous loss. If a single page advertisement in a single issue costs
$7500, what you say on that page is important. Look into any current
magazine, and you will be tremendously impressed with the importance of
English in this branch alone, not to mention its importance in letter
writing."
There is no greater power in business to-day than the ability to use
convincing English in correspondence and in advertising. Any one who can
write good letters, letters that the reader feels he must answer, has
success ahead of him, because the market of a good letter is practically
unrestricted. Wherever a letter can penetrate, it may create desire for
an article and make sales.
But what is a good letter? Nothing more than a bit of good English. Can
you write clear, direct, crisp, yet fluent English? Then you can write
good letters--but not till then.
In modern business the letter has become the advertiser, the salesman,
the collector, and the adjuster of claims. An advertisement must be
attractive; it must arouse the interest of the one who sees it. A
salesman must understand human nature; he must forestall objections by
showing the customer how he will gain by buying. The collector and the
adjuster of claims must be courteous and at the same time shrewd. If a
letter is to meet all of these requirements it cannot be dashed off at a
moment's notice. It must be thought out in detail and written carefully
to include all that should be expressed. This means, especially in a
sales letter: