Q: I’m planning to start a company and wonder whether to go to the expense of having a letterhead designed. What are your views?
Aug 23 2005
Answered by: Philip Wilkinson Ask a question
I’m a firm believer in having decent letterheads. It makes a huge psychological statement to yourself but also to the outside world. It says that you are serious about your business and not just playing. Of course, there are some cash businesses where you rarely need to send a letter out to a customer or a supplier and if that is the case for the business you plan, you might as well save the cost and just produce something yourself.
But if you have any sort of written correspondence, and especially with customers, it’s well worth the time and expense. And it doesn’t always have to be very expensive. If you are going to send out a lot of mail, it ‘s worth getting a bulk number, such as 20,000 printed at a time to save costs.
You can often find designers working part-time from home and advertising in local free magazines. It would be much cheaper to use someone like this rather than go for a design company with their own premises. You may be able to negotiate that you only pay if you are satisfied with the results. Or ask for several initial sketches before making a decision.
You need to make sure when you are setting up your letterheads that you put on the correct information. There are detailed rules about this. You need to put the full registered name of your company, either all or none of the directors, the place of registration, the registration number, the address of the registered office and the trading address. You can get advice and a helpful leaflet from Companies House (0870 3333 636,www.companieshourse.co.uk), ‘Publication of company name and particulars to be shown on company stationery.’
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