A business letter is basically a written letter from one business to another, either to their clients, customers, or various other external entities. It is usually brief and to the point, with a formal touch. The format of business letter varies according to the relationship between the two parties involved. If the letter is an engagement or a proposal to enter into a business relation, it should be formatted in the manner prescribed by the company or organization to whom the letter is addressed. Similarly, if the letter is an acceptance of a contract, the terms and conditions of the contract should be specified, as should the mode of payment, if any. And, if the business is in any sort of merger or acquisition deal, the letters accompanying the deals/agreements must be similarly formatted.
A business letter format should also have four lines to indicate the date, address and date when the letter was written, the name of the receiver (first name, surname or maiden or middle name), the address of the sender (company address), and a line to indicate the cause of the termination of correspondence. The closing paragraph, also known as the acknowledgment of receipt, should be written in the form of an acknowledge receipt letter. The sender’s signature should be indicated as well. If there are any addendums to the agreement, those will also be written in the same format, following the general format used for the salutation.
The body of the business letter format should again be made in the prescribed manner. One paragraph can be written in one space, while two paragraphs can be written in two spaces, and so on. Three sentences can be written in one space, and four sentences or paragraphs can be written in two spaces. For longer contracts, the letter may be written in even fewer spaces, as long as the contract is not extremely long.
The salutation should always start with the sender’s name and address. Then, the recipient’s name should be followed by the salutation, and the date. All body filler should come after the salutation, unless the word “sincerely” is enclosed between the sender and recipient. Otherwise, it is grammatically correct to begin the next sentence with the word “sincerely.”
At this point in the business letter format, the rules change slightly. There is a new set of rules, designed to help simplify the whole business process. If you want to make a specific point in the document, you can do so using the single space. However, if you wish to make general statements in the first or second paragraph, you may use three single spaces. Three single spaces indicates that the paragraph is an opinion, and not a legal document. Four single spaces indicates that the paragraph is a quote, and the remainder of the paragraphs can follow the same format.
Finally, the final part of the business letter format is quite interesting. The third paragraph contains the name of the receiver (hereafter called the “Dear Sir”). In the first indented form, the name of the person should be written using upper case letters, separated from the subject line by two dots (this is the “Dear Sir”. For example, “To whomsoever it concerns:”. Following this, there should be a colon, and the receiver’s name should be written in quotation marks. The rest of the lines are used to fill in details about the recipient, and the closing indented form completes the salutation.
