Subject line of a letter with a commercial offer - what to write in it?

“Only a dry summary of how to draw up a commercial proposal (compredator, CP). We will look at the basic approaches and principles using illustrative examples. Also, just below, I will provide templates and samples of the structure and text of a commercial proposal with links so that you can download them and adapt them to your needs.” © Daniil Shardakov.

The purpose of this article is to teach you how to develop a CP that, first of all, will be read. And secondly, after reading it, they will respond and agree to the proposed deal.

Types of commercial offers

There are three types of comps: cold, hot and public offer. The first two types are used in marketing and sales. The third is in jurisprudence.

Cold offer

“Cold” commercial proposals are sent to an unprepared client (“cold”). Essentially, it's spam. As practice shows, people don’t really like spam, but if it interests them, then... it becomes an exception to the rule. For this type of CP to work, you need a high-quality target list (list of recipients). The “cleaner” this list is, the higher the response. If the target list contains general addresses of the type, then the effectiveness of the compr is a priori reduced by 80-90%.

Let's take a spicy situation as an example. Let's say the head of the sales department has a plan. A little less than two weeks away from the report, he's tearing his hair out, not knowing what to do, and receives an email with something like the title: "5 Ways to Meet Your Monthly Sales Plan in a Week." Tada-a-am! This is the salvation of the situation! And the person reads the main text, in which the service we offer is hidden among the methods.

But this is only a special case. The main task of a “cold” commercial proposal is to force the recipient to read it to the end. Make a mistake and the letter ends up in the trash.

That's why when designing a cold gearbox, three main risks of ejection are taken into account:

1. At the receiving stage. Costs to attract attention. This could be a subject line if the quote is sent by email, or a custom envelope with color or form factor if the delivery channel is physical, etc.
2. At the opening stage. It gets by with an attractive offer (it’s also called an “offer”), we’ll talk about it a little lower.
3. At the reading stage. It gets around using elements of persuasion and marketing tricks. We will also talk about them below.

Please note: the volume of a “cold” commercial proposal, as a rule, is 1-2 pages of printed text, no more. This is due to the fact that the recipient is not initially inclined to read the CP, and even more so he will not read it if the volume exceeds 10-20 pages.

The main advantage of a “cold” commercial proposal is its mass appeal, but practice shows that when the proposal is personalized, the response to it is much higher.

"Hot" commercial offer

Unlike “cold” analogues, a “hot” commercial offer is sent to a prepared client (a person who himself requested a proposal or who was previously contacted by a manager).

“Hot” CPs differ from “cold” ones both in volume (which can be 10-15 pages or slides) and in the approach to compilation. More importantly, they provide a person with information of interest for making a decision (on price, availability, conditions, etc.). Recently, “hot” commercial offers, designed in the form of PowerPoint presentations or translated from PowerPoint to PDF format, have become especially popular.

Offer

This is a special type of comprades, made in the form of a public agreement that does not require signing. It is used on the websites of various SaaS services or in online stores. As soon as a person fulfills the terms of the contract (for example, registers on the site), he automatically accepts the terms of the offer.

Definition of a business letter and main types

Business correspondence is one of the ways of communication between partners.
The concept of a business letter is an appeal sent by a participant in business correspondence to a partner. The purposes of the contact may be different, ranging from sending a commercial offer to expressing gratitude.

Warranty

To provide the addressee with guarantees regarding the partner’s intentions, a letter of guarantee is sent. A mandatory requirement for drawing up this type of request is the availability of complete information about the sender, the legal address of the company, and bank details. Also, the text of the letter must contain the word “We guarantee”.

Commercial offer

This type of business correspondence is used in cases where it is necessary to send a proposal for cooperation to potential partners. Most often, the text of the letter contains conditions; the price list or the liver of the services provided are attached to the letter.

A commercial offer is a type of correspondence that is intended for the presentation of services or goods

Offer

This is the classic type of sales letter. An offer is intended to send a formal proposal to a supply partner. There is a difference between a firm offer and one without obligation. The first case is characterized by an accurate statement of the terms of the transaction. The second is intended to provide information about the fundamental readiness to cooperate.

Attention! To finalize a partnership, it is necessary to obtain consent in a response letter.

Notice

A document that informs about an upcoming event, the shipment of cargo. The text must contain specific dates, amounts, and times.

Complaint

This type is a claim that is made against a party to a transaction that has violated its obligations under the contract. The text will contain a claim for damages.

Covering letter

The letter is prepared to accompany the documents and papers attached to it. It contains a message about sending the listed documents and their quantity.

Confirmation of receipt

This type is used in business correspondence only as a response; it contains confirmation of a fact.

Request

The letter contains a request to stop or, conversely, begin any actions.

Reminder

The text includes reminder information about the need to fulfill the agreement and assumed obligations.

Congratulation

The letter is sent to congratulate a business partner.

Invitation

The appeal is appropriate if an organization wants to invite someone to an event or celebration.

Attention! The text of the invitation must clearly indicate the time, date and location.

Commercial proposal offer

Not to be confused with an offer. This is completely different. To create a truly powerful commercial offer, you will need a killer offer - the “heart” of your offer (English offer - to offer). That's the point. In other words, a clear statement of what exactly you are offering. In this case, it is advisable to indicate the essence at the very beginning (this especially applies to “cold” CP).

Please note: the offer is ALWAYS aimed at benefiting the reader, and not at goods or services! The easiest way is to compile it using the formula: we offer you {benefit} at the expense of {product}

Every day I come across commercial proposals, the authors of which step on the same rake again and again (don’t repeat it!):

• We offer you office furniture.
• We invite you to attend the seminar.
• We invite you to order website promotion from us.
• We offer you to wash your floors.

And so on... This is a gross mistake. Look around: competitors offer the same thing. But most importantly, there is no benefit for the recipient. Absolutely no way. What will he gain from this? What benefits will it receive?

• I suggest you save up to $5,000 on furnishing your office with luxurious European furniture.
• I suggest you increase your company's turnover by 20-70%, thanks to the information you receive at the seminar.
• I suggest you attract hundreds of new potential clients at a price of 1.5 rubles per person.
• I suggest you reduce the incidence of colds among your employees (and the number of sick days, respectively) through daily wet cleaning.

You get the idea. The main thing is to convey to the recipient the benefits that you offer him, and goods and services are a way to receive this benefit.

Mistakes made when drafting

Unnatural praise of the client.

There is no need to use templates and stock phrases that will only alienate a potential client.

Using critical remarks towards the addressee.

There is absolutely no need to do this, even if the company’s goal is to help a potential consumer. This can cause extremely negative emotions in the client. It is best to use carrots and sticks - first highlight the advantages, and only then point out very minor shortcomings.

Oversaturation of the offer with general information about the client.

There is no need to tell the consumer what he already knows. It is better to share completely new and interesting data that the buyer will be interested in studying.

Intimidation of the client or so-called “horror stories”.

Under no circumstances should you scare the consumer or tell him that without your help something terrible could happen. No negativity or stereotypes. It is worth highlighting the advantages of using the product, casually comparing it with what we have now (use the words: more convenient, more profitable, more effective), giving only specific information.

Sending one proposal to a large number of people at once.

Non-personalized information will cause less interest among potential buyers. The return on such offers will be minimal. There is no need to try to reach a large audience at once. It is better to highlight the sector that is most likely to produce excellent results. It is important to write a business proposal in such a way that the reader can feel that he is being spoken to in private. It is possible to use additional information that will indicate that communication is being conducted specifically with this client. It is worth using information about previous communication, if of course there was one.

Misunderstanding of the concept of a “long” letter.

Many are sure that the client is not interested in large amounts of information. However, you should understand that the reader will consider any boring and completely uninteresting letter to be long. The size of a catchy and truly interesting commercial offer will not scare the consumer, because he will read all the available information in one go.

It’s not for nothing that people can often call very short films boring and drawn out, and call a 3-hour movie the most exciting, without mentioning its duration. The same is true with works of art, news, books, letters. The reader will not perceive 5 sheets of commercial proposal negatively if they are truly informative and catchy.

The first priority is to put the sentence in compliance with grammatical rules.

This attitude towards writing texts can develop from school, where the main factor was the grammatical component. In life, everything is completely different. It is much more important for the reader to understand what is written about. It is necessary that the information is read and perceived by the client easily and informally. It is worth constructing the offer so that it resembles a real communication between the seller and the buyer. Here it will be quite acceptable to use fragments of sentences and phrases, sometimes even desirable.

Give the client a reason not to look into your business proposal.

You should not naively assume that the reader will be extremely interested in information about your company, especially about its history. It's not like that at all. This is the least interesting to a potential buyer. It is necessary to attract his attention with some kind of provocation, an unusual statement - in a word, everything that will bring him out of balance and force him to read the commercial proposal to the end. It is worth considering the fact that maintaining interest is an equally important aspect. You need to focus on what can motivate a person. Most often, needs appear due to some fear, a desire to become individual, a feeling of guilt, a desire to become beautiful or healthy. It is in this vein that it is worth considering the problem and devoting a commercial proposal to it. And then show that the proposed product can satisfy all needs.

Unsubstantiated statements.

It is unlikely that the client will be receptive to your commercial offer. It is imperative to back up the information with very specific evidence. It is worth bringing the clearest arguments. This approach can convince the reader to buy the product or cooperate.

Commercial offer structure

In its structure, a commercial proposal is somewhat reminiscent of a selling text. And this is natural, since commercial text is a special case of a commercial text. But there is one element that sets compreads apart from the mass of other tools. This is an offer. However, let's talk about everything in order.

Running title

The footer most often includes a logo (so that the CP is identified with a specific company) and contact information with a mini-appeal. This is done to save time and space. As soon as a person looks at the top of the document, he already knows what is being discussed and how to contact you. Very comfortably. The size of the footer, as a rule, does not exceed 2 cm. After all, for a cold compressor in A4 format, every centimeter counts. Look at how I would put together a proposal for, say, my blog. In this case, I sell content in exchange for readers' time.

Commercial offer title

Vital element. Especially for a “cold” gearbox. Its task is to attract attention and immediately hook it with benefits.

Please note: when it comes to a “cold” proposal, the heading “Commercial proposal” is not the best option. If only because it is uninformative, takes up space and is no different from dozens of others that your competitors send. In addition, if a person does not expect letters from you and receives something so abstract, he reflexively makes several clicks: “select” and “add to spam.”

At the same time, for a “hot” commercial offer, such a headline is more than appropriate if the company name is indicated next.

In my practice, headlines (not to be confused with the subject line of the cover letter!) work best using the 4U formula. In today's sample sales pitch, the headline is a combination of a headline and a subhead.

Lead (first paragraph)

The main task of a lead is to arouse interest in what you are saying. Otherwise, people simply will not listen to you. Well, or literally, then read your commercial proposal. The lead always talks about what is important to the client. To do this, four approaches are used:

1. From the problem (most often).
2. From the solution (if there is no problem as such).
3. From objections (if relevant).
4. From emotions (very rarely).

In my example, I used a “from the problem” approach, take a look. Below I will show a few more samples with other approaches.

Offer

I already talked about creating an offer a little higher. The offer should interest the recipient in the benefits so much that he continues reading your commercial offer. Practice shows that if the offer is not interesting to the reader, the commercial proposal goes straight to the trash can (the second wave of discarding).

For an offer, you can use either a general formula with benefits, or the so-called amplifier link:

• Product + product at a good price.
• Product+service.
• Product + gift, etc.

At the end of the offer, I recommend making a graphic anchor (if space allows). It thins out the text mass and adds “air”. In addition, it makes your business proposal easy to scan. Look at the offer and graphic anchor I made in the sample commercial proposal for my blog. In your commercial proposal, you can use as an anchor a visualization of the goods supplied or the main areas of services, plus prices (if they are competitive for you).

Benefits for the client

The next block is the benefits blog. In other words, this is a transfer of what a person receives when he agrees to your commercial offer. It is important to be able to distinguish benefits from properties and characteristics.

For example, in a sample CP for readers of my blog, I can cite the following benefits. Please note: the benefit block has a subtitle that is always directed towards the reader.

Objection processing

It is not always possible to insert all objection handlers into the commercial proposal. But even so, the main ones can be closed by simply answering the questions: “Who are you?”, “Why can you be trusted?”, “Who is already using yours, etc. Look at my sample CP for the blog. I handle the objection by answering the question “Who is the author and can he be trusted?”

Blocks with social proof or authority triggers are often used as objection handlers. Finally, another powerful sales persuasive technique is guarantees. In this case, guarantees can be both expected (12 months for office equipment) and unexpected (if something breaks down, the company carries out repairs at its own expense, and provides a similar model of equipment for the duration of the repair).

To inspire even more trust, tell us about your company, without unnecessary praise - specifically and to the point. Just the facts.

Call to action

Another essential attribute of a good commercial proposal is an appeal. In this case, there should be only one call (calling for one specific action): most often it is a call, but it can also be an application on the website or a visit to the sales department. The maximum is an alternative: call or send an Email.

Please note: the call must be a strong verb, so the response will be higher.

Compare:

• Call me (strong verb).
• You can call (weak verb, the effect will be lower).

And one more important point. You will be surprised, but sometimes people who develop business proposals forget to include contact information in them. It turns out to be a comical situation: the recipient of the CP wants to order a product or service, but physically cannot do this because he does not know where to go.

In my sample, I put the call in the footer.

P.S

The final, and at the same time one of the most important elements of all “killer” commercial proposals, is the postscript (PS). When used correctly, the postscript becomes a very powerful motivating lever. Practice shows that people read postscripts most often (after captions under pictures). That is why, if you want to strengthen your commercial offer, then it is advisable to take into account the treasured letters PS.

In addition, you can insert a restriction (deadline) into the postscript. Many people miss this point of the structure. And if, in the case of sending a “hot” commercial proposal, the manager can call and remind about himself, then in the case of a “cold” proposal, the absence of a restriction can deprive the company of more than half of the responses.

You can limit either in the context of time or in the context of the quantity of goods.

For example:

• There are only 5 fax machines left.
• The offer is valid only until August 31, from September 1 the price will double.

It is worth mentioning that if you make a restriction, then you must keep your promises. And not so that you promise to double the price tomorrow, but the next day you don’t do this, but promise the same thing.

What should a cover letter have in order for it to do its job well?

I offer you my vision of solving this problem, my view on the structure and logic of the cover letter:

Strong, but without fantastic promises

We develop commercial proposals.

Brevity

There is no need to run wild with thoughts here,” outlining all the details of the trade proposal. To describe all the details and benefits, you have already developed a commercial proposal and saved it in a separate file. The cover letter performs only a tactical task - it works to achieve an intermediate conversion. The expected action of the recipient - downloading a file - is not so complicated that it does not require too much convincing to push it.

To brevity I would also add simplicity. There is no need for floridity, do not try to impress the recipient with your sophistication in the epistolary genre. There is no need, as one of my clients put it, for “special business language,” meaning by it the “robot” correspondence that plagues our b2b market. And he so lacks simplicity, warmth and human language!

Previous Contact Reminder

Before sending a commercial proposal, did you call the recipient? Perhaps you talked to him at the exhibition or he contacted you through the website. Remind him when and for what reason you contacted him before. This will demonstrate that your email is not random and will increase the chances of conversion.

Targeting

Well, I won’t discover America here. Letters with a personal address by name attract more attention. It's the same as shouting in a crowd, "Hey!" Who will pay attention, and what kind of attention will it be? In the best case, they will turn to you, glance at you and forget about you in a second. It’s another thing if you shout: “Hello, Andrey!” Do you agree that Andrey will react better?

Key benefit of the offer

It is 100% formulated in your commercial proposal. It's worth repeating in your cover letter. The only thing is that maybe not in the same words. Otherwise you won't get a very good repetition. Where to formulate? Depends on the format of the letter.

The format of the letter depends on the method of working with the commercial proposal and on who you are writing to. You can create a header that is complete in formatting and logic. You can formulate it in an introductory paragraph. I can definitely say that this should be done at the very beginning of the cover letter.

Additional benefits

Their power is difficult to overestimate. They are needed to enhance the impact of the main benefit and, perhaps, to hook those who were left indifferent by it. Again, there is no need to describe everything in every detail. Make a concise but focused list.

USP

We will not talk here about what it is, why it is and how it is. Let's simplify everything to the limit. To solve our problem, it is enough to formulate the uniqueness of your proposal in a cover letter. Again short. One or two short sentences are enough.

Call to action

This element, which is critical to a cover letter, was missing from all the letters I analyzed. They simply stopped at the last narrative phrase, and it is not clear why the author wrote the letters, what did he want to achieve from the recipient? You cannot leave the decision to the recipient. Saving drowning people is not the work of the drowning people themselves.

You need a conversion, and you tell the person what he should do after reading the letter. Download file? Follow the link? Write a sentence that calls him to this action. Actually, that’s why we’re trying).

Another moment, inconspicuous, but important. In a call to action, it is important not to “overcall.” Don't go too far. The style of the call very much depends on the characteristics of the target audience. Some people need to write softer, while others can be aggressive. It is stupid to demand “contact you right now” if you are writing to the minister, his deputy or simply a significant person. Think about the people who will read the letter and check your words carefully.

Signature and contacts

They are needed. And according to the rules of good manners, this is how it should be, and the right contacts have a good effect on trust, well, the alternative methods of contact proposed in the cover letter will help those who decide to do so immediately, without reading the commercial offer, to contact you easily and simply.

Ready-made commercial proposal sample

If we connect all the blocks, we will get this sample commercial proposal. It's universal. I adapted it for selling various goods and services: from logistics to rolled metal. In some places it worked better, in others worse. But everywhere it justified itself and paid for itself. The only thing is to remember to keep the target sheet clean.

Another strength of this sample is that it is easy to scan. A person understands what we offer him in a matter of seconds.

You can download this sample to your Google Drive using this link to adapt it to your task. There you can save it in RTF, MS Word or PDF formats. The compilation algorithm is below.

How to write a commercial proposal (algorithm)

To correctly draw up a commercial proposal, you need:

1. Step 1: Use the sample from the link above as a basis.
2. Step 2: Replace the logo, call and contacts with your own.
3. Step 3: Design a header using the 4U formula.
4. Step 4: Describe the client's real "pain" in the first paragraph.
5. Step 5: Create an offer with a solution to the “pain”.
6. Step 6: Make a graphic divider.
7. Step 7: Describe the additional benefits of your proposal.
8. Step 8: Address key objections or briefly introduce yourself.
9. Step 9: Make a call to action, write a PS with a deadline.

Other commercial proposal samples

Based on the above structure, you can also compose purely textual comps. Let's look at samples of commercial proposals for the supply of goods and transport services. Despite the fact that they do not have graphic separators, the order of the blocks in them is identical. Pay attention to the objection handler “If you already have a supplier.” This technique is called psychological adjustment and is described in detail in the book “The Laws of Influence” by Susan Weinschenk.

a) Sample commercial proposal for transport services

(Google Docs, MS Word, PDF, RTF formats).

b) Sample commercial proposal for the supply of goods

(Google Docs, MS Word, PDF, RTF formats).

How to submit a commercial proposal (prototype and design)

There are also more complex examples of compreads, which consist of text and graphics. This is for situations when the CP needs to be beautifully designed. In such situations, a prototype is developed first. This is a technical task for the designer. When the design is ready, the design proposal is sent to the potential client. Look at an example of such a prototype commercial proposal for a transport company.

But a sample control panel is already in design (one of the possible concepts).

What to do when the compr is written

Let's assume that the commercial proposal has already been written. The question arises: what to do with it next, and how to send it. It’s good if the compressor is of the “hot” type. It can be saved as a PDF and immediately sent to the waiting client. But what about cold CPs? And here there are as many as four options.

1. Shipping by regular mail (physical format). This can work great when your competitors are bombarding potential clients with their sales pitches via email. At the same time, try to make the letter look expensive: a snow-white envelope made of thick paper, a stamp. Ideally, the address will be written by hand.
2. Sending a commercial offer in the body of the letter (HTML format). To do this, you will need the help of special programs or services for Email marketing. An additional advantage of this approach is that you see the number of open letters linked to each contact in the target list and time. Very comfortably.
3. Send as an attachment with a cover letter. In the letter you introduce yourself and arouse interest. But without overloading with details. For additional information, a person opens a document in the application.
4. First the letter, then the committee representative (if there is a response). Unlike the previous option, you divide the sending into two stages. First, you check the interest, and only when you have established contact, do you send a commercial offer.

Which of these approaches will work better cannot be said a priori. Need to test.

Electronic messages

Official written documents can be sent either by mail or electronically. The basic rules for business communication with partners are:

• It is recommended to create a separate email address for work emails, which will be used only for business purposes.
• The name of the mailbox must contain either the name of the organization or the name of the manager.
• When sending, the “Subject” line must always be completed. This is necessary to ensure that the letter does not end up in spam.
• All attachments must be attached separately.

Important! Even when sending letters by e-mail, it is necessary to maintain a business style and correctly address the recipient.

Sending correspondence electronically is the most common and convenient option.

Typical mistakes when drawing up commercial proposals

There are a lot of forms, templates and samples of commercial proposals on the Internet. And most of them have one thing in common: they don’t work and no one reads them. Simply because they contain the same typical errors:

1. An ode to your company in the style of “Professional, customer-oriented, young, dynamic, ambitious, reliable and blah blah blah.” A client, in principle, is not interested in a company that does not interest him in a worthwhile offer.
2. Praises to the recipient in the style of harsh licking “Your company has always been a model of quality and reliability, stability and prosperity...” It’s especially funny to read this in cold CPs. Flattery is good in moderation. When it overflows, the reader has a gag reflex, and the commercial proposal goes into the trash.
3. Cleverness. Another common mistake is when the beginning of the CP is overloaded with too much information, and in a format in which it is difficult to even pronounce it. Example: “Our company strives to stand out among the average market conditions and provides services of unprecedented high quality, taking an individual approach to each client through the prism of symbiotic interaction.”
4. All at once. Many companies consider it their duty to send in one letter a commercial proposal, a price list, a presentation, a card with details, a catalog and a lot of other electronic waste paper, which is more likely to irritate than help solve the problem.
5. Dirty target list. Purchased or old bases that have become stale and covered with dust 10 times. With this approach, it is easy to get caught by spam filters. In the worst case, postal services will impose sanctions on the company name (the name will become a stop word). Then even legitimate emails will often end up in spam.
6. Abstraction and water. The less specific you are, the more time the recipient needs to grasp the essence of your offer. And time is too valuable a resource to waste.
7. Cliche. Many companies believe that a commercial proposal is a formalized document. And they write like everyone else. That is, no way. Or they send CP without segmentation to everyone. But meanwhile, the same product may have different target groups with different interests. This also needs to be taken into account.

And there are a lot of such errors in templates. Another common mistake is being boring. Many people believe that if a commercial proposal is to be read by the director of a company, then it should be written formally, dryly and boringly. Bullshit! First of all, because, as practice shows, there are already enough dry and boring texts in the correspondence of directors. And the director is also a person. In the end.

Technologies for producing business letter texts

Guryeva N. Yu., Ph.D. Philol. Sciences, Associate Professor RSUH

• Subtextual and subtextual content of a business letter
• Planning the text of a business letter
• Phases of writing a letter

The functioning of the texts of commercial letters in the verbal interaction of business partners (sender and addressee) and the speech situation of business correspondence, i.e. the pragmatics of the text, are determined by both the historically established tradition and modern trends in building a liberal-democratic discourse of communication. In the conditions of modern society, new trends can be traced, caused in the environment of commercial activity by the spread, at least at the formal level, of market equal relations not only between interacting, but also between competing entities. Since these trends are reflected mainly in business correspondence, its comprehensive analysis can be of not only philological interest, but also of value from the point of view of developing the necessary skills of speech etiquette among citizens of different countries engaged in business. In the practical sphere, research work in this area can serve as the basis for creating methodological recommendations for conducting business commercial correspondence, which can be significant, including for the scientific direction of cognitive linguistics, which is currently relevant in many countries of the world.

For the successful implementation of the goal set in the process of business communication, it is necessary to take into account the basic principles of text production technology, primarily because the basis for the speech action performed should not only be an information message. One of the reasons for conducting commercial correspondence should be to take into account the fact that optimization of the dialogue between the sender and the addressee is always the result of the formation of a positive emotional mood between them.

The integrity of the text of a business letter, which is its main communicative feature, presupposes the general direction and consistency of the micro-topics contained in it. To identify the severity of this trait, it is necessary to discover the connections between micro-themes presented in a specific text and the levels of their disclosure at the textual, extra-textual and subtextual levels. The purpose of any office document created in the course of providing commercial correspondence is to influence the addressee of the letter in order to induce him to take a certain action and convince him of the need for this kind of action.

Also, the text of a business letter can be provided with textual content to ensure its communicative effectiveness. As a rule, it indicates additional opportunities to take certain actions to ensure and maximize the use of one's legal capabilities. As an example of the presentation of extra-textual information, one can cite the norm of Article 46 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which provides that “ Everyone (beyond-textual level) has the right, in accordance with international treaties of the Russian Federation, to apply to interstate bodies for the protection of human rights and freedoms if all available domestic legal means have been exhausted.” protection (beyond-text level) » .

Along with a clear combination of levels of content and micro-topics, the integrity of the text of a business letter is achieved by the consistent disclosure of a specific topic in it according to the principle of “one topic - one letter.” The creation of a text is carried out according to the principle from the general to the specific, that is, from the idea to its specific embodiment. In this case, the perception of the text of a business letter occurs in the opposite way - from the particular to the general, in which through the particular aspects an objective perception of the transmitted information and the semantics of the business letter are ensured.

The content of the text, as a rule, is limited to its verbal content, since business correspondence - for example, simple application texts - has only a textual level of content. Examples of such texts include the following phrases: “Please transfer me from part-time to distance learning,” “Please provide paid leave from... to... for training .

Beyond the text content, as a rule, is widespread in messages of informational-analytical, scientific and official business orientation, the creation of which involves the involvement of additional argumentation for the judgments put forward. Examples of such texts include the following phrases: “I ask for academic leave in accordance with previously submitted documents” (beyond-text level), “ In the absence of a marriage contract, married persons specified in previously approved by-laws (beyond-text level) have the right to provide their property rights in civil procedure .

Subtextual content implies the presence in the text of a business letter of a certain hint for the addressee. It can be predetermined (for example, it assumes the responsibility of the addressee for failure to comply with an order) or, on the contrary, random. An example of an accidental subtext could be, in particular, the negative self-presentation of the addressee in the case of an incorrectly chosen etiquette frame of the letter or the absence of such a frame that provides for the expression of gratitude for business commercial offers. It is the subtextual content that carries the main functional load in texts for propaganda and commercial purposes, which, in particular, was written about by researchers on this topic.

Writers of letters of this functional orientation model a speech situation that ensures a confidential dialogue with a potential business partner or client, which is clearly manifested precisely at the subtextual level. An example of a subtextual form of business appeal is the following fragment of a commercial advertising proposal.

Since the basis of the action for preparing a business letter is the speech situation, the first stage of preparing texts for official business purposes is to determine the circumstances preceding the preparation of the letter. These may include making a request, assistance provided, or unfulfilled business obligations. When focusing on these circumstances, it is necessary to predict the recipient’s reaction to the information contained in the letter. In particular, a correctly written text of a commercial business letter usually reflects the specifics of the addressee's activities (for example, a company) and the management style used by the addressee in everyday work. Therefore, already at the first phase of composing a business letter, which orients its functional orientation, it is necessary to ask yourself questions about the meaning, style, tone, and verbal content of the text being created. In this case, it is necessary to take into account that a written text, unlike an oral statement, cannot soften or correct the recipient’s perception of documented information.

The next— second — phase after orienting the text of a business letter is planning the text to be created. It includes programming the internal structure of the text and various actions for encoding documented information, including the selection of words and grammatical structures. When implementing this phase, one should take into account the accepted classification of business letters into formal and informal. If formal letters of administrative and regulatory type are drawn up according to established template forms using accepted wording and specific phraseological combinations, thereby remaining within the framework of the official business style of correspondence, then informal letters have an inter-style character. They may use both stylistically neutral and stylistically colored (for example, journalistic) language means. Business texts that are informal in structure and content include, in particular, letters of gratitude, recommendations and individual letters of information (memoranda, advertising messages, resumes).

The third phase of creating texts for business letters is the implementation of internal speech in audio and/or graphic form. This process is carried out using existing functional styles of the Russian language - primarily, official business and journalistic styles. When designing the internal speech content of the text, it is necessary to achieve full compliance of the texts with the orthoepic, spelling and grammatical norms of the Russian literary language. Failure to comply with such norms, which occurs, for example, in many advertising texts that are deliberate in their content, can cause native speakers who are potential consumers of advertising information to feel a sense of internal linguistic protest and create subtextual content that is undesirable for the addressee.

A negative self-presentation of the addressee, caused by a violation of the literary norm, can also be a consequence of inattention or insufficient spelling or punctuation literacy of the author of the letter. Also, when writing a business letter, it is necessary to take into account that its perception by the addressee may depend on additional factors - the physical condition of the envelope and paper, the choice of font, the quality of the letterhead design. The postscript is of particular importance in business and, in particular, in commercial writing. It usually includes information that is significant for the author of the letter about the special conditions of the proposed transaction, preferential terms of the transaction, etc.

The fourth phase of creating the text of a business letter is simulated control of the recipient’s perception of the letter, providing feedback between the subjects of correspondence. Inattention to this phase can cause communication difficulties not only in the business sphere, but also at even more global levels - for example, in the sphere of ensuring the functioning of civil society institutions. Therefore, research developments in the field of ensuring and improving this phase of written speech communication are being created not only in the field of linguistics, but also in the fields of management psychology and marketing activities. Only after monitoring the perception of a business letter can a conclusion be made about the effectiveness of the achieved verbal communication in a specific practical situation that has become the object of text documentation.

As noted above, the author of a business letter, within the framework of the topic being disclosed, solves a certain problem, which is reflected in the content of the created text. When perceiving a prepared text, the addressee comprehends it according to the scheme from the particular to the general. In the process of understanding the content of a business letter, which implies the presence of some subject of speech - a material object or event, he draws a conclusion about the informational and thematic significance of the text and also gets the opportunity to identify some subtextual information related, for example, to the personification of the author of the letter.

At the same time, in Russian-language business correspondence of a formal type, in contrast to the American practice of writing it, it is not recommended to use vocabulary of an emotional and evaluative nature. Therefore, formal letters acquire a rigid compositional structure and are often reduced to a stencil form. Examples of such business-oriented texts include types of fiscal documentation (questionnaires, certificates, certificates), standard title agreements, administrative legal documents, and standard samples of petition letters.

Formal business letters also include those types of documents that, being drawn up in a standardized form, have a semi-rigid composition. It represents a mandatory scheme, within which the sender must be guided when transmitting information. Examples of such types of documents are various texts-instructions, as well as responses to complaints and other letters of petition created in the address of supervisory or other law enforcement agencies according to the “bottom-up” scheme. For the structure of such response letters, it is customary to use an etiquette frame that includes greeting and farewell formulas.

In Russian-language letters, which distinguishes them from examples of English-language business correspondence, a mandatory element is the presence of a standard greeting formula in the form of a sentence with an exclamation mark, drawing attention to the content of the message based on the situational punctuation norm used. This design of the address makes the letter official in nature, ensuring the distance between the addresser and the addressee, traditionally established in Russian business communication practice. The addressee in this type of text of a business letter is indicated in the form “dear Mr./Madam” followed by the position or “dear” followed by the name and patronymic of the addressee. In formal letters created during the Soviet period, the form of address “dear (last name and initials of the addressee)” was often found, which was an etiquette violation in the field of business communication, since it implied in the subtext a disrespectful attitude towards the addressee and, therefore, created a negative emotional orientation.

Informal business letters have a semi-rigid compositional structure, as a result of which they can be formatted either with or without the use of a label frame. In particular, a label frame is not required when the addressee of an information letter is impersonal, who in most cases is a generalized subject. The modern trend in creating modern texts of business correspondence, which have mainly a commercial advertising focus, is to use the second person plural personal pronoun “You” as a form of address to one subject.

The subtextual content of this process, taken into account, for example, by banking and insurance companies, is to convince the addressee of the letter to use an individual psychological approach towards bank clients. The use of this semantic technique reduces the emotional distance between the subjects of correspondence, creates the appearance of a speech situation of dialogue between the addresser and the addressee, which, according to the general opinion of experts, promotes business cooperation. Also, the considered method of conducting correspondence provides a positive self-presentation of the author of the letter.

Also, to ensure the desired business effect in informal letters, an extended label frame can be used to express the addressee’s positive attitude towards the subject of the letter. In accordance with it, along with the universally used forms of greeting and farewell, there are two additional microthemes in the created texts. The first micro-topic is fixed in the text immediately after the address to the addressee and is formalized in the case of a positive assessment by the addressee of the topic of the letter with the phrase scheme “We are pleased to have become acquainted with ...; We are pleased to inform you that...", and in the case of expressing a negative attitude towards the subject in the form of a complaint or refusal to the addressee with the phrase scheme "unfortunately,...; We were indignant to learn that...” The second micro-theme, completing the text of the letter, is placed before the farewell formula “with respect,...” and is formatted using the phrase scheme “we hope for further mutually beneficial cooperation; We would be grateful for your understanding of our position.”

In informal business letters, elements of subjective evaluative vocabulary are widely used: qualitative adjectives (convenient, fruitful, effective); nouns of abstract meaning with an emphatically positive assessment (advantage, well-being, success); verbs in personal form, denoting direct positive action (to protect, to interest, to replenish), as well as intensifying-excretory particles: simply, only, only.

A necessary property of the text of a business letter is to present a respectful attitude towards the addressee. Offensiveness or even emphasized indifference of the wording used, emphasized distance in business letters that are informal in their typology, contradict the norms of verbal communication in the business sphere and can lead to failures of an administrative and commercial nature - loss of potential clients, difficulty in management processes, development of lack of initiative in relation to the perception of administrative recommendations .

Thus, a business letter on a specific topic as a whole must be considered not only from a formal point of view, describing the structural elements and composition of texts, stating the specifics of their vocabulary, phraseology and syntax, but first of all with the aim of explaining why exactly the language means used make it possible to carry out business communication, and what tools can optimize this process. That is why each linguistic phenomenon must be given a cognitive justification and explanation, which will allow a deeper understanding of the forms of linguistic structures used and describe the dependencies that exist between them.

Semantic characteristics of the texts of business letters involve the analysis of their vocabulary, phraseology and syntax, primarily taking into account the specifics of their perception: the presence of appropriate intentions, the emphasis of specific units, the choice of a certain position within the framework of an informative dialogue (the presence or absence of a communication perspective, i.e., a business interaction strategy ).

The study of business correspondence as a special form of verbal interaction between communicants in a business communication situation from the perspective of pragmatics assumes an experimental approach to the structural components of texts, allowing one to determine their cognitive semantics. At the same time, syntactic means, based on their meaning, are studied from the standpoint of communicative syntax and its functional and stylistic features of information transfer.

The results of the latest research in the field of management psychology show that the communicative mode of communication, i.e., the dialogical form of speech etiquette, helps to optimize the connections between the addresser and the addressee, which, in particular, has a beneficial effect on various areas of commercial activity. Consequently, improving speech culture is not only a general humanitarian, but also a socio-economic task.

The emerging desire of representatives of administrative and bureaucratic structures in modern society to go beyond traditional hierarchical relations in the field of business communication is explained by the fact that the price of attention to the interests and rights of a particular individual has increased significantly. Its level directly affects the so-called rating in political and economic competition and, in a global sense, the strength of the addressee’s position in the correspondence process.

However, new trends that appear in business commercial correspondence become, in a situation where the language constructions of the “telegraphic style” are preserved, the reason that most modern business documentation is an example of stylistic eclecticism and therefore causes an ambiguous attitude towards itself. In particular, the desire to attract the attention of the addressee to one’s brand and one’s product products, manifested in certain texts of commercial correspondence, is often perceived as incorrect behavior from the point of view of speech etiquette, associated with “aggressive advertising.”

To summarize, it should be emphasized that the modern, democratic form of business etiquette is difficult and inconsistent in the practice of commercial correspondence. However, the realities of modern times force us to overcome the communicative stereotypes of authoritarian social relations and move into a communicative mode of dialogue, which determines the essence of the newest ideas about the culture of written speech and the etiquette of commercial activity.

Notes for preparing a commercial proposal

In order to write a truly effective business proposal, you need to move away any templates so that they do not confuse you. First of all, because many of your competitors also write business proposals using the same templates.

A truly effective commercial proposal requires an individual approach!

Next, start writing the CP following the above structure and algorithm. Don’t forget that the offer is the “heart” of any commercial proposal. It should offer some kind of benefit from the goods or services you sell.

Don’t forget about persuasion techniques: reviews, guarantees, visual images, facts.

And, most importantly, remember about the call and the opportunity to respond to it.

I am sure that this information will help you write a truly selling commercial proposal!

Sincerely yours, Daniil Shardakov.

What functions does a commercial proposal perform?

Before you start writing a commercial proposal, you need to understand what functions it performs. In some ways they are similar to the tasks of advertising messages:

• Attract attention.
• Interest.
• Push to buy.
• Create a desire to purchase a product.

Based on these tasks, a commercial proposal is developed. Typically, visuals such as the organization's logo are used at the very beginning.

If a commercial proposal is given to a potential client in printed form, then special attention is paid to the quality of the paper on which the proposal is printed. For greater impact on the client, you can apply special watermarks to the document. Laminated paper will make a pleasant impression on the consumer of the product.