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Tel: 01364 652845
Fax: 01364 653578
enquiries@stephenlloydtraining.co.uk
Letters and e-mails are essential business tools, and this course will help you to ensure that yours make the right impression and get the right results. It provides valuable guidance on modern practice, writing techniques, good business style, common errors and technical issues. This, together with relevant exercises and individual support, will enable you to develop the skills and confidence of a professional communicator.
Your course manual - the Desktop Guide to Writing Letters and E-mails - will become a valuable reference book when you return to the office. It describes all the topics in detail and includes quick-reference sections and useful checklists. You will also be entitled to one year of post-course support via e-mail, giving you access to further help and advice.
In February 2011 Stephen Lloyd was interviewed by Financial Times journalist Rhymer Rigby about how to write a successful covering letter. For the full article please go to www.ft.com and search for “The careerist: Writing a covering letter”.
The details
Summary
1 day
9.30 am–5.00 pm
Small groups
Certificates
A year of free support
£395.00 + VAT
A 20% discount is available to charities and local authorities
"A great course. I enjoyed it and learnt a lot."
Lynnette Bruynius Legal PA EMW Law
Locations and dates
London, Lion Court : 23 January 2012
London, Lion Court : 25 April 2012
London, Lion Court : 19 July 2012
Course programme
Overview
The changing roles of letters and e-mails
Letter or e-mail - which is appropriate?
What is your subject?
How formal do you want to be?
How urgent is your message?
When is telephoning better?
Writing letters
The conventions
Layout
Salutations
Closes
Postscripts
Creating a clear and logical structure
Essential principles
Useful models for structuring letters
Making a strong start
Writing opening sentences
Discussion of various approaches
Good business style
Matching your tone to the reader and the purpose
Choosing and using words with care
Side-stepping jargon and overworked phrases
Reviewing sentence length and structure
Ensuring consistency
Avoiding ambiguity
Coming to a good end
Techniques for strong endings
How to test your endings
Guidelines for specific types of letter
Promoting products and services
Being persuasive
Responding to complaints
Providing information
Asking for action
Exercises and feedback
Writing e-mails
Why e-mail is a special case
How e-mail differs from other documents
The potential pitfalls
Guidelines for effective e-mails
Using the subject line well
Thinking about structure
Taking care over tone
Getting your message across clearly and succinctly
Common questions answered
How should I begin an e-mail - Hi, Good morning, Dear John?
How much can I say?
Can I use headings?
When should I use an attachment?
How should I end an e-mail - Cheers, Yours, Kind regards?
Technical topics
Plain text or HTML format?
Design and layout
E-mail security
Revising the essentials
Grammar
The good grammar guide
Punctuation
Punctuation - a refresher
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