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How to Write a Business Referral Letter

How To Write a Business Referral Letter

Sometimes a business does something so incredible that you’ve got to share it with other people. Whether it is in a professional capacity where you need to officially recommend this incredible product or service to another company or you want to do so on a personal level, a business referral letter is an effective tool to use to do so. A properly written business referral letter will effectively communicate why you found something to be so incredible that you just had to share it!

8 Steps to Successfully Writing a Referral

There are some proper steps involved in the writing of a good business referral letter. Follow the list below for 8 easy ways to write your letter and properly communicate what you desire to the other business.

1. Be Formal
A business referral letter is a professional document, so it should be treated with the formality that it deserves. Include your name and contact information on the top right of the letter. Then include the contact information of the person or business you intend to send the letter to after you’ve completed writing it on the left. Be sure to include the date, the reason why you’re writing the letter, and a proper introduction.

2. Use a Proper Introduction
Many people like to start out a letter with “Dear Mr. So & So.” There is no need to do this – after all, would you really come up to someone, shake their hand, and then say “Dear George, I wanted to talk to you today?” Probably not.

There is no need to include a “Dear” before the recipient’s name at all. Just utilize their name with a colon and you’ll be fine. If you don’t know the specific recipient of the business referral letter, then using the standby “To Whom It May Concern,” is a good way to address the beginning of the letter.

3. Immediately Start Discussing Your Message
A lot of introductory paragraphs involve a lot of greetings, salutations, how are the kids, and that kind of thing. That’s ok if you’re writing a personal letter, but from a business to business viewpoint, that’s not very professional. Time is money in the business world, so get to the point right away and talk about this amazing product that you’ve discovered in the first paragraph.

Don’t just stop at the basics. Give as many descriptors of the product as you can because this will help to communicate your excitement about it. The additional details and statistics will help the letter’s recipient to better understand what the product or service can provide and give an immediate glimpse of the value you’re attempting to communicate.

4. Communicate its Value
What you’re attempting to do with this letter is connect another person or another agency with the business products or services you’ve discovered. That means you’re not trying to fulfill your own needs – you’re trying to meet the needs of someone else. Write your letter in such a way that it communicates what value there is in this product or service. It should be able to meet the recipient’s goals or solve a problem for them in some way and that’s what you’ll want to communicate.

5. Share Your Opinion
If you’re attempting to bridge together a good product to a business that needs this product, then you’re opinion about its value is likely important. Don’t be afraid to share what your impressions of this product or service you’re recommending are. This initial impression will help the letter’s recipient be able to better gauge how useful your recommendation happens to be as well.

So how do you share your opinion in a professional way? Just be honest about what your initial impressions are. Talk about why you decided to compose a business referral letter to recommend the product or service. Share some personal experiences with what you’re recommending if you’ve used it for yourself.

6. Compare its Value to the Competitor’s
There are shades of grey when it comes to the value a product or service can provide. You need to communicate why the decision to utilize your recommended product or service should be a black and white decision instead. Why is this item the best option? Why should this item be used instead of a competitor’s item? What about this item holds the most value for the user who uses it? The answers to these questions will help to convince your letter’s recipient that your recommendation holds value because you see the most value in the item you’re sharing.

7. End With a Reasonable Call to Action
You don’t want to force someone’s hand and demand that they use your recommendation. On the other hand, you don’t want your business referral letter to simply be discarded into the circular file either. A gentle call to action that talks about how quickly the value of your recommendation can be realized is often the best way to go. Be sure to include the contact information for the business you’re recommending in this portion of your letter as well so that your letter’s recipient can then pursue the item in question at their own leisure.

8. Proofread and Finalize
Nothing speaks to a poor first impression than a business referral letter that contains typos, poor grammar, and incorrectly spelled words. Take the necessary time to thoroughly read the letter and correct any mistakes you may find. A good way to do this is to read the letter out loud – even if it isn’t to anyone else. The brain perceives the visual text differently as you read it verbally and this can help you root out any contextual problems you may have unconsciously added to the letter.

Then all you need to do is sign your letter and it’s ready to be sent! That’s really how easy it is to write a good business referral letter. Now go ahead and get started on your own today!

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