3 Big Business Letter Booboos
By Marion Marking

Marion Marking is editor in chief at ChinaBusiness-Philippines magazine, which publishes monthly in English and Chinese. She can be reached at chinabiz.editorial@gmail.com.

Nothing beats a face-to-face meeting. But if you must write a letter instead, make sure that it is polite, professional and, most importantly, error-free. Here are three common mistakes to watch out for.

1. Wrong/Misspelled Addressee
If you misspell the name of the person you're writing to, it may be taken either of two ways: you are slipshod in your work or business dealings, or the person you're writing to isn't important enough for you to bother to verify his/her name. Extremely unfortunate whether you're trying to land a job or seal a deal.

While you're at it, make sure you get the designation of the person right [He/she may have already been promoted!] and the address. [Tip: Using 16/F over 16th floor, 15 December 2007 over December 15, 2007, and boldface rather than all-cap names gives your letter a more polished look.]

Also, make sure you have the correct the gender. I often get called “Mr.” or “Sir” in correspondence. While I don't really mind the mistake, others may. So, when in doubt I ask, “Is that a Ms. or Mr.?” I also make it a point to ask for a middle initial to give the impression that my company and I are thorough.

2. Elementary Misspellings
You'd think that with the invention of spell check and grammar check, and their use in both word processors AND e-mail, people would no longer misspell simple words. Now, e-mail/messenger misspellings are perfectly fine for messages fired off to friends. [I think that's part of the medium's spontaneity and beauty.]

But when you write a business letter, via e-mail or not, don't ignore the little squiggly lines that flag your spelling mistakes [undoubtedly caused by familiarity with SMS/texting lingo]. And, please, ALWAYS proofread your work!

3. Lofty Language
I've received letters that have a distinct turn of the century feel—turn of the previous century, that is. Following are several funny phrases that have no place in 21st century correspondence:

1. I humbly request your good office [Why the letter writer needs to tell me that he is humble or that my office is good beats me!]
2. I respectfully request [Alliterations are cool but, surely, it's better to write something simpler and less dated, such as “May I request...” or “Would it be possible...”
3. At the abovementioned time [Oh brother! Can we junk all the HEREINs, UNDERSIGNEDs, and sundry legalese that look strange in modern business correspondence? The only thing that's acceptable, perhaps, is “to wit”—but make sure you use it right or not at all.]
   Remember, modern business correspondence, in this ADHD-ridden, Disposable Age, must be straightforward and use as few words as possible to get the point across.