Explain the various types of Business Correspondence?

The Five Main Types of Business Correspondence are:

1. Incoming Correspondence.
2. Outgoing Correspondence.
3. Mailing and Postage.
4. Internal Correspondence.
5. Dispatching Correspondence

Incoming Correspondence:

Incoming correspondence can cover many different subjects. It may, include new stocks of brochures, invoices for services provided, requests from customers, arrival of tickets, updates from suppliers on products available, advice of flight time changes, customer complaints, and much more. You can perform the following activities:

• Checking the names of the addressee.
• Opening all the company correspondence.
• Recording the data received.

One must remember the fact that existing client business is the most essential. Messages which have arrived by answer phone, telex, fax or E-mail are usually more urgent than those which have come by post. After these come the circulars: In your office you have your own system for handling such situations. One should keep the following points in mind:

• Existing business comes first,
• Potential business comes second,
• Administration conies third, and
• Product updates comes next.

Outgoing Correspondence:

Outgoing correspondence shows the professional image of your company. Therefore, they must look smart and correct. Before sending any correspondence from your office one must check that:

• The correct letterhead is used.
• The correct format of the letter.
• The correct date of the letter.
• It is addressed to the correct person.
• All information is correct.
• There are no grammatical and spelling errors.
• The letter is easily understood.
• The letter is polite.
• The letter has been signed by the authorized person.

Mailing and Postage:

Mailing procedures will vary from company to company. However, some following rules are applied:

• Use regular mail if the correspondence will reach its destination as quickly as airmail because the airmail is quite expensive.
• Use airmail if correspondence is getting late.
• Use courier services for urgent local correspondences.
• Always ensure that the correct and full address is mention on the envelope.
• Use E-Mail or telex in place of mail if speed is essential.

Internal Correspondence:

Corresponding with other members of staff will be part of the day to day activity of the company. This can be done informally as well. When you have passed on an important or urgent piece of information to a colleague you should double check that it was received.

Dispatching Correspondence:

In the dispatching correspondence activity, one issue is really essential that the whole office staff should be aware of the time when the mail will leave from the office, and ideally this will be about an hour or half an hour before the close of business. Faxes, telexes, etc. should not await the end of the day but should be dispatched at once throughout the working day.