Training course: Modern and effective letters and emails in German

How to write successful and effective letters and emails in German and reply respectfully to complaints. A compact correspondence training course

Contemporary business correspondence is clear yet personal. In this compact seminar, participants are provided with simple and effective tools for wording letters and emails in a professional, customer-oriented style. The key to a professional style lies in precise and succinct messages presented in a well-structured format.

Expectations of letters and emails in German have changed radically. Anyone writing in the “old style” today conveys a poor image of their company to customers and other communication associates.

Contemporary letters and emails are clearly structured and precisely worded. They are recipient-focused, easy to understand and free of obsolete phrases or officialese.

Training objectives: Participants find out how to write in a contemporary in German with a range of practical tips and suggestions. They learn how to work out a basic structure for daily letters and emails, enabling them to create texts more quickly, more confidently and with a clear target in mind.

Duration: 1 day, e.g. 9 am to 4 pm

Preparation

• Participants submit customer letters/emails and the relevant replies for prior analysis and formulate their questions and expectations of the training course.

Content

• The eight basic principles to follow for a contemporary letter and email style
• What no longer works: obsolete (e.g. “zur Verfügung stehen”), wrong (e.g. “beiliegend finden Sie”), superfluous (“wir beziehen uns auf”) or clumsy expressions are replaced with flawless, contemporary ones
• Clear, targeted and precise formulations: drafting letters that are correctly and comprehensibly structured
• Sensible structuring and the best possible line of argument
• Primary and secondary purpose of the customer letter: choose positive, respectful wording which is not patronising
• If necessary: create sample templates for commonly used texts
• Write with formal precision: be familiar with and apply the guidelines and norms for correspondence in Germany (DIN 5008)
• Optimise letters and emails written by participants

Handbook, quick reference cards and seminar service

• Detailed seminar handbook and handouts with exercises
• A5 quick reference cards as a brief summary
• Supplementary material and photographic minutes by email
• Support after the seminar: simply by email or using the Knowledge Blog – participants are welcome to ask questions and request tips after the seminar