Business Letter Writing 5.6

Business Letter Writing 5.6

Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives

Your letters will be more successful if you focus on positive wording rather than negative, simply because most people respond more favorably to positive ideas than negative ones. Words that affect your reader positively are likely to produce the response you desire in letter-writing situations. A positive emphasis will persuade the reader and create goodwill. In contrast, negative words may generate resistance and other unfavorable reactions. You should therefore be careful to avoid words with negative connotations. These words either deny—for example, no, do not, refuse, and stop—or convey unhappy or unpleasant associations—for example, unfortunately, unable to, cannot, mistake, problem, error, damage, loss, and failure.

When you need to present negative information, soften its effects by superimposing a positive picture on a negative one.

Stress what something is rather than what it is not.

emphasize what the firm or product can and will do rather than what it cannot.

open with action rather than apology or explanation.

avoid words which convey unpleasant facts.

Compare the examples below. Which would be more likely to elicit positive reader response?

In addition, you should reemphasize the positive through embedded position and effective use of space.

Embedded Position:

Place good news in positions of high emphasis: at the beginnings and endings of paragraphs, letters, and even sentences.

Place bad news in secondary positions: in the center of paragraphs, letters, and, if possible, sentences.

Effective Use Of Space:

Give more space to good news and less to bad news.

Evaluate the examples below to determine whether or not they present negative information favorably.

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