Korrespondenz auf Englisch - Wirkungsvolle Bestätigungsbriefe

Schlagwörter: Korrespondenz auf Englisch, Bestätigungsbriefe auf Englisch, Englisch Bestätigung, Englisch Bestätigen, Bestätigung auf Englisch, Englisch Zusagen, Zusagen auf Englisch, Englisch Zusage

When's the last time you wrote a letter
to a company making a complaint or
requesting information? Did you immediately
get a letter of confirmation stating
that your letter had been received, or did
weeks go by, after which you received a
letter addressing your request?

Somehow, in today's fast-paced business
world, the act of writing confirmation letters
that respond to everyday business
events seems to have been dismissed as
unnecessary. Regarded as antiquated,
bothersome and ultimately time-consuming,
businesses more and more simply
react to customer requests: request
received, customer waits, response returned.

Not surprisingly, a number of letter-writing
experts on the Internet now advocate the
opinion that confirmation letters should
be extremely short, impersonal and
limit themselves to the business issues
at hand.

With the advent of e-mail, customers now
enjoy the convenience of auto-response
confirmations. When a customer makes
a request or purchase, he immediately
receives an automatically generated
confirmation via e-mail. Impersonal. Dry.
The appearance of good service without
the effort.

It's a shame, because personalised confirmation
letters provide an ideal way to build
confidence and reinforce relationships with
customers and other firms. Every communication
that seems friendly and goes
above-and-beyond contributes an extra
touch to customer relationships that other
companies don't bother to make. That's a
competitive edge that's hard to ignore.

The art of writing relationshipbuilding confirmation letters

Let's say your firm has received a complaint
letter. Many firms would simply forward
the letter to the appropriate person
internally, develop an official response or
remedy and reply in writing - sometimes
up to a week or more later.

Consider the difference in customerrelationship
impact, however, if you were
to immediately send the following short
confirmation letter to the customer before
forwarding the complaint letter internally
for handling:


Dear Mr Jones,

Your letter of complaint dated
28 July arrived this morning.

Deeply concerned, I forwarded
your letter to our Customer
Relations Manager, Bernhard
Falkner, who has promised to
review it personally and respond
by the end of the week.

If you have not heard from Mr
Falkner by 5 August, please
don't hesitate to contact me
directly at +49 555 5555 5555.

Please accept our apologies for
any inconvenience you have encountered
as a result of this
problem.

Yours sincerely,

Margaretha Schwind
Office Administrator


What does the customer get out of such
a confirmation letter?

• Confirmation that his letter has been
  received



• Confirmation that his issue will receive
  personal treatment



• Confirmation that the company is
  concerned and will take action



• A feeling that the company is reliable,
  trustworthy and takes care of its
  customers



• An easing of his misgivings that
  the problem will be allowed to get
  worse or may even go unaddressed



• An indication that the company
  communicates professionally and
  maintains an open dialogue with
  its customers

• You cannot respond the same day to a
  request that has been made



• When it's important to inform a customer,
  supplier, partner, associate or
  co-worker that his issue will be taken
  seriously



• When you wish to express your appreciation
  for an invitation, document, gift
  or anything else that you have received



• When it's important to put the content
  of a verbal discussion or agreement from
  a previous communication into writing



• When you need to confirm in writing that
  you have granted authority to someone
  or have placed or received an order



• When you need additional information
  from your communication partner
  before you can take further action



• When you wish to introduce an additional
  opportunity to inform your communication
  partner about something,
  for example new product offerings,
  special deals, new terms, etc.

• Statement of emotion, if appropriate
  to the situation



• Reference to triggering event



• The confirmation itself



• Request for action, if appropriate to
  the situation



• Apology, if appropriate to the situation



• Thank you



• Offer of further assistance

• First and foremost, a confirmation letter
  should convey in its tone and style that
  what is important to your correspondence
  partner is important to you. Here are
  some tips that will help you write efficient
  confirmation letters that are convincing
  and faith-instilling:



• Be sure you have a clear understanding
  of the latitude you have in communicating
  about and addressing the
  issue at hand. Your confidence with
  your scope of authority will shine
  through the content of your letter and
  make a positive impression.



• If you are confirming an agreement,
  be sure not only to provide details of
  what you agreed to, but also details
  about what is NOT included in the
  agreement. This may result in further
  rounds of discussion, but nailing down
  the details up front will forestall serious
  misunderstandings in the future.



• Check the facts before confirming
  anything in writing.
  After you?ve written the
  letter, cross-check it
  once more with the
  facts to prevent
  errors from slipping
  through.



• Your tone should
  be business-like
  and brief. However,
  you should still
  sound sincere, helpful
  and friendly. In a
  complaint situation:
  caring, with apologies.
  In a thank-you situation:
  appreciative. Never formal.
  Never bureaucratic. And
  always be polite by using please
  and thank you.



• Optimally, confirmation letters should
  be sent within one business day after
  the initiating communication.



• If you are confirming participation in
  an event, be sure also to use a tone
  of enthusiasm. The person who invited
  you should feel that you are excited by
  your participation.

Schlagwörter: Korrespondenz auf Englisch, Bestätigungsbriefe auf Englisch, Englisch Bestätigung, Englisch Bestätigen, Bestätigung auf Englisch, Englisch Zusagen, Zusagen auf Englisch, Englisch Zusage

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