ENQUIRY LETTERS

Presented By,

Hiral Desai (10)

Payal Jain (14)

Pooja Jariwala (15)

Khushboo Jariwala (41)

Mariya Shaikh(57)

What are Business Letters?

“Business letter” can be defined as : A letter which perform several functions such as: to establish a business relationship without any personal contacts, to create a friendly relationship with another organization, to achieve the specific purpose of your organization, to provide record for subsequent reference, to create a good impression about the writer’s firm & also the writer himself.”

Purposes of Business Letter: Giving or seeking Information Making or answering an enquiry Placing an order Demanding or refusing credit Mollifying the injured feeling of a customer Selling goods & services Making, Accepting or refusing a request Making or responding to complaints & Creating goodwill etc.

In order to achieve the definite purpose & the intended results, the business letter is written to express facts & opinions clearly, concisely, completely & correctly

When to use a Business Letter:Business letters can be highly effective tools to achieve your purpose. A well-written, professional business letter can easily open up doors and allow your opinion or request to be heard. Some of the more common reasons to write a business letter are:

To request more information about a product To ask for a business reference To express your opinion about a product To thank a person As a sales tool to sell a product

Types of Business Letter:The most common types of business letters are:

Acknowledgement Letter: This type of letter is written when you want to acknowledge someone for his help or support when you were in trouble. The letter can be used to just say thanks for something you have received from someone, which is of great help to you.

Apology Letter: An apology letter is written for a failure in delivering the desired results. If the person has taken up a task and he fails to meet the target then he apologizes and asks for an opportunity to improve in this type of letter.

Appreciation Letter: An appreciation letter is written to appreciate some one's work in the organization. This type of letter is written by a superior to his junior. An organization can also write an appreciation letter to other organization, thanking the client for doing business with them.

Complaint Letter: A complaint letter is written to show one that an error has occurred and that needs to be corrected as soon as possible. The letter can be used as a document that was used for warning the reader.

Inquiry Letter: The letter of inquiry is written to inquire about a product or service. If you have ordered a product and yet not received it then you can write a letter to inquire when you will be receiving it.

Letter of Recommendation: This type of letter is written to recommend a person for a job position. The letter states the positive aspects of the applicant's personality and how he/she would be an asset for the organization. Letter of recommendation is even used for promoting a person in the organization.

Letter of Reply: A reply letter is usually a response to the communication that you have received from a person or business.

Letter of Application: A letter of application, also known as a cover letter, is a document sent with your resume to provide additional information on your skills and experience

Letter of Sales: A sales letter is a piece of direct mail which is designed to persuade the reader to purchase a particular product or service in the absence of a salesman. It has been defined as "A form of direct mail in which an advertiser sends a letter to a potential customer.

Order Letter: This letter is as the name suggests is used for ordering products. This letter can be used as a legal document to show the transaction between the customer and vendor.

Letter of EnquiryWhat are Enquiry letter?

The most common letters in business are “Enquiries”. A letter of enquiry is a formal letter written to ask for more information concerning a product, job, place of study, service, or competition. It is often written in response to an advertisement and is short and to-the-point.

Buyers need information from manufacturers & sellers, about products, terms of sales and various services.

The letter is short; formalities are not required and the writer can get straight to the objective of asking for information.

 

Principles to keep in mind for writing Inquiry Letters:

In order to achieve the definite purpose and the intended results, the inquiry letter is written to express facts and opinions clearly, concisely, completely and correctly.

Write naturally:The basic essential feature of effective letter writing is “Be natural in expression”.

Write naturally as if u is having a conversation. The natural writing reflects the originality of the use of language. By avoiding trite expression, long phrases, strong adjectives, clichés you can achieve neutrality in writing and can arrest the reader’s interest.

• Avoid trite expression: For e.g. ‘We are sorry to tell you’ sounds more natural then ‘we regret to inform you’.

•Avoid long phrases: For e.g.,The furniture is needed in connection with the new office.REVISED: The furniture is needed for the new office.

•Avoid adjectives: Do not use adjectives and adverbs unless they will increase the readers understanding. For e.g., ‘Awfully sorry, terribly inconvenient’…etc. - to attract attention.

•Avoid clichés: The use of cliché indicates the unnatural way of presenting ideas. For e.g. Inclined to think, face facts, acid test, in the near future, last but not least…etc.

Write concisely and directly:

Conciseness means giving a lot of information effectively in a few words. If you write directly and concisely, you will be able to arrest the attention of readers because the reader can understand it quickly and easily.

• Avoid Redundancy: For e.g. instead of writing ‘Please do send the reply at your earliest convince’, it is always effective to express it as, ‘please reply as soon as possible’.

•Avoid Verbosity: Abstract: I hope our response to your communication has reached you. Concrete: I hope you have received our reply to your

letter.

 

Write precisely and clearly:

Clarity and precision are often interdependent. Clarity in writing is the quality of being unambiguous and easily understood by the reader. Clear and precise writing requires the suitable selection of words.

The secret of clear writing is clear thinking. Clarity is achieved when the writer has communicated his meaning to the reader.

Example: ‘we do not like dissatisfied customers’This sentence is not only negative but also confusing. Surely, the writer did not mean that his company dislikes people who complain. What he means was this. ‘we do not want customers to be dissatisfied’.Thus prefer simple and common word.

Write positively and courteously:

One of the qualities of any effective letter is to establish goodwill. It means persons’ politeness and favourable attitude towards another person. It is an attitude of mutual respect. This can be achieved by using positive tone and courtesy language in business correspondence.

Positive tone: tone in writing refers to the way you express yourself. Writing positively has two aspects basically. They are:• Organisation of your message in as positive way as possible and• Selection of words that have a pleasant and optimistic view.

Positive attitude: the writer should think, write and act with a positive attitude. Selecting words that bring forth positive images.  Courteous writing: courtesy is consideration for others. Courtesy writing involves a consideration of and respect for another person’s feelings. Courteous writing helps to eliminate friction and establishes a good relation.

Important points to be remembered in Enquiry Letters Courteous request for information, giving its example.

Statement of what is wanted.

Request that the information may be given in a certain date.

Make sure to include contact information so that the person

can easily get in touch with you if necessary, such as your cell or home phone number or e-mail address

DO’S AND DON’Ts IN ENQUIRY LETTERS: DO’S

Do use simple language and avoid complicated sentence structure. Ruthlessly eliminate all unnecessary words. Do avoid negativity.It should give all relevant details of what is being inquired about. Do look carefully about the grammatical and punctuation error in the inquiry letters. Do: Be sure to include your name, address and telephone no. on the letter. Use a formal greeting (Mr., Ms., Dr.).

DON’Ts:

Don't write a long letter. Try writing precise and short letter.Don't forget to personally sign the letter.Don’t include clipart, fancy fonts, patterned paper, or

personal photos.Don't include letters of recommendations or references.Don't be vague.Don't give a specific salary requirement

 

Format of a letter of enquiry: Sender’s address

Date

Recipient’s name and address

Name or title and address of the recipient

Salutation

Dear Sir/ Madam / Name of the Recipient,

 

Introduction (one paragraph)

Clearly state your purpose of writing / a brief summary of your enquiry.

Body (two or three paragraphs)

Give brief background information about your enquiry.

Ask directly for what particular information you want.

Ending (one paragraph)

State politely that you are waiting for a reply.

 

Close

Yours faithfully, / Yours sincerely,

First Paragraph:This should tell the reader what you want; e.g.• Please send me... (for things that the organization offers to send)• I am writing to enquire whether... (to see if something is possible)• Could you also... ( + an additional enquiry or request)

Second Paragraph:This paragraph tells the reader why you are contacting his or her organization, and gives further details of the enquiry.

Final Paragraph: This paragraph should contain a polite expression and/oral expression of thanks to the reader. • Thanks. (For a very informal and normal enquiry or request)• I look forward to hearing from you.• Thank you very much for your kind assistance

Samples of Enquiry Letter:

Bargain Letters

 A buyer may ask for a special concession or discount from a regular supplier for an occasion, like free gift packing during a festival sale, or reduction in price for a special customer. Show the seller that he has an advantage, such as publicity or increased sales.

Dear Sirs,

There is a good opportunity to sell a large quantity of your assorted chocolate boxes through our 96 branches in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the festival season.

We propose to offer the boxes as Diwali/New year gift and request you to give us gift packing at no charge. We will be ordering 6000 boxes to be delivered by 10 October.

It will be given excellent publicity to your products in a wide market, and bring you good returns in increased sales.

Please let us know by the end of this week if you accept this proposal, as we would like to include the item in our publicity material which we will be printing next week. We are looking forward to adding your products to our list of special festival gifts. 

Yours faithfully,

Granting a RequestThis is a pleasant message; grant a favour cheerfully, without grudging. You may, of course, express expectation of benefit by granting the favour.

Gentleman:

We are glad to say that we shall be able to give you the special gift packing you requested for our boxes of assorted chocolates at no extra charge.

Since your proposed order exceeds 5000 boxes we shall be able to get a substantial concession in the price of packing material which makes it possible for us to bear the cost. We appreciate your suggestion that our products could reach a wider market by offering them as gift articles.

Please place your order by 15 September so that we can order the special gift boxes before the festival season rush begins.

Yours faithfully,

XYZ

Sample 2:ENQUIRY:

Ms. Radha Vyas,

B-308, Crystal Square,

Satelite Road,

Ahmedabad 

Dt : 29/2/2007

 

 Dear Ms.Vyas,

 

Subject: Enquiry for possible prices for a complete Wedding arrangement

 

I got a referral from my friend, Kritika Shah that you provide a total package of wedding

arrangement for reasonable cost. Would it be possible if, you can email me or send it to

the above address or through fax the complete and total price lists of the wedding

package as well as wedding brochures and catalogues and hoping to help

me finalize things and make final decisions in terms of choosing the best

package for my wedding sometime next month?

Does the package include photo shots and venue arrangements? Would it

be possible also to arrange for me the reception venue and menu details?

If not, can you refer someone for me? I will appreciate your support and

coordination.

Looking forward to hear from you as soon as possible.

 

Respectfully yours,

Ananya Shroff

Reply:March 5, 2007

Ms. Ananya Shroff,

223 -Vaibhav Apartment,

M.G Road,

Ahmedabad

 

Dear Miss Shroff,

Reply: Enquiry of possible prices for a complete Wedding Arrangement

 

I just received your letter yesterday from my mailbox and Kritika Shah is a good friend of mine. Thank you for the appreciation of our services and hoping to have a harmonious business relationship with you.

Yes, we will provide you the complete and total price lists of the wedding package as well as wedding brochures and catalogues through sending it in your email address and also fax it for assurance.

 

If not received, you can also visit us or call for details. package can include photo

shots and venue arrangements only if you choose mode A or B from our price lists.

Unfortunately, we cannot cater the menu details but can arrange the venue for your

convenience. Regarding the menu, I can refer Mr. Sachin Mehta of TGB Hotels and

Catering Services located at C.G. Road or you can call at his office, tel. no. 0267-

2585443.

Thank You