Business letters, document templates with one job each

Twenty one letters, sorted by what they have to do

Four of them ask: a meeting request, a sponsorship request, a donation request and a letter of authorisation that hands somebody else the right to act. Five of them tell: a price increase, a change of business address, a change of ownership, a contract renewal and a contract termination that cites the clause it relies on. Two of them repair a relationship: an apology to a customer with a remedy attached, and a complaint to a supplier with the defect, the evidence and the remedy asked for. Three of them vouch for a person or a business: a character reference, a recommendation for a contractor and a confirmation of employment. Five of them open or close a relationship warmly: an introduction, a welcome to a new client, a thank you after a completed project, an event invitation and a business cover letter sent with a proposal. Two start something formal: a letter of intent for a partnership and a notice to vacate.

Why every one of them is on a letterhead

A letter speaks for a sender, so each carries a letterhead with the sender's name, address and contact line, in one of four styles. Two of the twenty one are Australian and carry an ABN; the rest carry an address and an email and no tax identifier, because a tax number would make the letter local without saying so. Nine end on a typed sign off with a name and a position, and the rest carry a signature block. Each page says which, and lists the sections the letter runs through.

Picking one and rewriting it

Start from the letter whose job matches yours rather than from the industry, because the structure belongs to the purpose. Then change three things: the facts, meaning the dates, amounts and clause numbers; the remedy or the ask, which is the sentence the reader acts on; and the reply by date, which is what makes a letter get answered. Where a letter carries legal weight, such as the notice to vacate or the contract termination, check the notice period and the prescribed form your state or your contract requires before sending it.

Every page in this collection

• Apology letter to customer template with a remedy and a follow up

  An apology letter that only apologises makes things worse, because the customer still does not know what they are getting. This one page example from a removalist owns the failure in the first line, shows what was promised against what happened in three rows, names a $150 credit already refunded, and ends with the date the owner will call.

• Business cover letter template for sending a proposal

  A cover letter on a proposal is not a summary of the proposal. Its job is to tell the reader what is in the envelope, what they have to do next and by when, and who to call, which is exactly what this one page example does in four short paragraphs and a table of four tabs running to 37 pages.

• Business event invitation letter with an agenda and an RSVP date

  An invitation that buries the date and time in a paragraph gets fewer replies than one that does not. This one page letter from a law firm puts the when and where in a block a reader can copy into a calendar, gives a three item agenda with times, asks for a reply by a date with a reason, and ends on the parking.

• Business introduction letter with three services and one proof point

  A new business introducing itself has no reputation to lean on, so the only thing that carries weight is a number it is willing to publish. This one page letter from a courier lists three services with their cut offs and prices, then states that 1,389 of 1,412 pilot deliveries arrived before 5pm, and says the figure is published monthly whether it is good or not.

• Change of business address letter with the old and new rooms side by side

  A relocation letter fails when the reader finishes it still wondering whether their booking, their phone number or their parking has changed. This one answers all three in a two column table, names the last day at the old rooms and the first at the new, and closes the gap in between.

• Change of ownership letter template that promises continuity, then proves it

  When a business changes hands the customer has one question, which is whether anything they rely on is about to break. This letter answers it in three numbered promises about records, staff and hours, hands the new owner a paragraph of her own, and gives a number to call.

• Character reference letter template built on two things the writer saw

  A character reference is only worth reading when the writer says how they know the person, for how long, and what they actually watched them do. This one gives seven years as a next door neighbour, states there is no family tie and no interest in the outcome, and then describes two dated incidents.

• Complaint letter to a supplier with the defect, the evidence and the remedy

  A complaint letter that works reads like a brief, not a vent. This one page example from a cafe puts five dates in a table, describes the fault as temperature readings against the supplier's own specification, lists three attachments, asks for exactly one remedy, and gives ten days for a written reply.

• Contract renewal letter template with the changes in one table

  A renewal letter has to do two things a reminder email never does: show exactly what is different about the new term, and say what happens if nobody replies. This one puts four changed terms side by side with the old ones, fixes a reply by date, and states plainly that cover stops on the end date.

• Contract termination letter template that cites the clause it relies on

  A termination letter is judged on one thing later: whether it ended the contract the way the contract said it could be ended. This one names clause 14.2, counts the 60 days, fixes the last day of service, and settles the handover and the final invoice before anyone has to ask.

• Donation request letter template with a specific ask and what it buys

  The difference between a donation letter that works and one that does not is usually a single number. This one page letter asks twenty local businesses for $500 each, then shows in a four row table that $500 is exactly what one Thursday dinner service costs, from the produce to the food safety supervisor.

• Letter confirming employment for a rental application, written in facts

  An employment confirmation letter is read by someone deciding whether to hand over a property, and they are looking for four facts and a person to call. This one puts the role, the start date, the employment type and the pay in a table, then names the payroll manager, her number and a reference to quote.

• Letter of authorisation template with a scope and an expiry date

  An authority to act is dangerous when it has no edges, because whoever reads it decides for themselves how far it goes. This one page letter names one person and how to check them, lists four things the authority does not cover, runs from 1 October 2027 to 31 March 2028, and says in a callout exactly how it is cancelled.

• Letter of intent for partnership that says which clauses actually bind

  The point of a letter of intent is to record what two sides agreed in a meeting before the memory of it drifts, without either of them becoming committed to the venture. This one separates three clauses that bind on signature from three that record intentions only, and says so in the first paragraph.

• Letter of recommendation for a business, written so it can be checked

  A recommendation letter is worth nothing if every sentence could have been written about any supplier. This one page example from a school puts the engagement in a three row table, gives two results with numbers attached, admits the contractor was not the cheapest quote, and offers a phone number to anyone who wants to test it.

• Meeting request letter template that names the purpose and three times

  A meeting request gets accepted when the person reading it can say yes without writing back to ask what it is about and how long it will take. This one answers both in the first paragraph, offers three dated slots that are already held, and says what each side will bring.

• Notice to vacate template for a tenant giving notice on a periodic lease

  A renter ending a periodic agreement has to give the right number of days and prove later that the notice arrived. This one dates the notice, counts 33 days against a 28 day requirement, says it travels with the approved form, and settles rent, bond, keys and the final inspection on the same page.

• Price increase letter template with the old and new price side by side

  A price increase letter fails when the customer has to work out what it means for them. This one page example puts every membership type in one table with the old price, the new price and the difference, then names the reader's own membership and tells them it is $4 a fortnight, or $104 over a year.

• Sponsorship request letter with three packages and what each one buys

  A sponsorship request that asks for support gets nothing, because the reader has no idea what support means. This one page letter from a junior football club gives the club in numbers, puts three packages at $500, $1,500 and $3,500 in a table with exactly what each buys, and explains that the top one pays for the jersey run.

• Thank you letter to a client after a completed project

  A thank you letter that only says thank you is forgettable, and one that only asks for a review is transparent. This one page letter from a landscaper names what was actually built, gives four things to do this summer so the work survives, and only then asks for a review and offers a referral deal worth $650.

• Welcome letter to a new client, with contacts and a first 30 days

  The first week of a new client relationship is the one where people quietly decide whether they made the right call. This one page welcome letter removes the doubt: three named people with what each handles, four dated steps to 5 August, one route for sending records, and the sentence that nothing is needed from the client today.