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How to Write a Letter to a CEO

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A letter to the CEO of a company allows you to make a comment, suggestion or complaint to one of the highest levels of authority in the organization. Only the president of the company and the board of directors may rank higher. Some chief executive officers receive lots of mail and an assistant or other aide is likely to read your letter. You may or may not receive a response, depending on the nature of your letter. Some CEOs have a team of administrative assistants who prepare responses, whereas others rarely respond to letters.

Outline the points you want to make in the letter to the CEO. A CEO or his/her assistant is more likely to read a quick, punchy letter than a long, rambling letter.

Write the letter and get to the point in the first paragraph, such as noting that you are writing to complain about recent price increases in the company's products.

Use the second paragraph to introduce bullet points to emphasize your key concerns. Bullet points are check marks, darkened circles, numbers or alphabets used to create lists. Set up your bullet points with an introductory sentence ending with a colon, such as, "Here are my key concerns about your new pricing structure:"

List your key concerns using the same type of bullet for each point. Place each bullet on a separate line.

Close your letter by thanking the CEO for reading your letter. Then, end with a valediction, or proper closing, such as "Sincerely yours."

References
  • "The Business Letter Handbook"; Michael Muckian, et al.; 1996
Writer

Robert Lee has been an entrepreneur and writer with a background in starting small businesses since 1974. He has written for various websites and for several daily and community newspapers on a wide variety of topics, including business, the Internet economy and more. He studied English in college and earned a Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts from Governor's State University.

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