Inquiry Letter

A.     Definition

Inquiry Letter is a document requesting information sent on behalf of an individual or an organisation for their own respective purposes, which can be mutually beneficial to the recipient and the sender. A letter of inquiry deals with various matters like job vacancies, funding, grants, scholarships, projects, sales, pre-proposals and others. The term is common in various business setups as it implies fund request or pre-proposal information.

The purpose of writing this letter is to obtain information relation to:

    a. Financial capability or credit worthiness

    b. Goodwill

    c. Nature of business dealings

    d. Honesty

    e. Relationship with business association, etc

B.      Types of Inquiry Letter

1.      Personal status inquiry letter: The letters that are written by prospective employers for obtaining information about job applicants are called personal status inquiry letter. Employers write this letter to obtain information relating to the applicant’s personal and family background, ability, skills, honesty, character, integrity, quality of performance, fitness for job etc. generally this letter is written to the referees mentioned by the concerned applicant. In response to this letter, the referees write a reply letter to the employer. This response letter may be favorable, unfavorable or neutral to the applicant.

2.      Business status inquiry letter: When a business enterprise writes letter to another business enterprise for collecting information about a prospective customer, it is known as business status inquiry letter. This letter is usually written for collecting information about financial capability, goodwill, nature of business dealings, honesty etc. of a business enterprise to determine whether to establish business transactions with it. Responses of this letter may be either favorable or unfavorable.

C.      Sample of Inquiry Letter

SAF CLOTHES & CO

Bangbarung street No.1C

Bogor

Ref : DS/RC/39

23 October 2016

Outfit Corporation

Lily Street No. 10

West Jakarta

Dear Sir or Madam,

We saw your product at Jakarta Fair a few days ago and made interested us.

     Please send the details of your product with the latest catalog, price list and terms of payment. If the cost is low and the details of product are interesting, we will order your product.

We are looking forward to receiving your reply soon

Yours faithfully,

Ms. Feshanti Safitri

Purchase Manager

Reference :

1.      https://targetstudy.com/letters/inquiry-letter/

2.      http://thebusinesscommunication.com/what-is-inquiry-letter-types-of-inquiry-letter/

3.      http://blog-online2.blogspot.co.id/2011/12/inquiry-letter-of-english-business.html