ENQUIRIES

Business communication

“inquire” and “enquire?”

These are two spellings of the same word, which means to seek

information about something or to conduct a formal investigation

(usually when followed by “into”).

Either spelling can be used, but many people prefer enquire and enquiry for the general sense of

“ask”, and inquire and inquiry for a formal investigation:

I enquired his name

The lawyers asked when the inquiry will be completed.

enquire and enquiry are more common in British English

inquire and inquiry are more common in US English

Letters of Enquiry

The word “Enquiry” refers to investigate or find out fact about

anything and in Business Correspondence it means asking

for information about prices, quality, quantity and terms for

supply of goods.

In hot pursuit to buy goods at favorable businessman writes or

corresponds with manufacturers or traders for the information about

the price, quality, quantity and other details.

In other words,“Letters of Enquiry”.

In other words, letter writing in business asking for information

about the goods or services by the intending buyer from the

manufacturer, seller, dealer or supplier may be called a Letter of

Enquiry.

Types of Enquiry:

(a) Solicited Enquiry – This enquiry is request for information by the intending buyer after being convinced through any

advertisement or communication from the seller or supplier. These enquiries can be

found in newspapers and magazines and is generally displayed as “for details

contact…” which means that the intending buyer should write to the advertiser to seek

for information or details. Such type of enquiries can be called as “Solicited

Enquiry”.

(b) Unsolicited Enquiry – This enquiry is the information asked by the intending buyer about desired goods or services

without the influence of advertisement or seller’s advice. In this type of enquiry, the

intending buyer corresponds or communicates by seller by his

information about the desired goods or services and so they are called unsolicited

enquiry.

Sources of Enquiry:

(1) Daily Newspapers(2) Trade/Commercial magazines

(3) Directories(4) Catalogues & Price List

The intending buyer can get the name and address of the desired

supplier or manufacturer from these sources of enquiry.

Contents of Letter:

(1) The intending buyer should write the purpose of making

enquiry about the desired goods or services to be purchased.

The intending buyer should specifically write about the details of goods or

services required. If there is an enquiry about the goods/services then the

enquiry can about quality, quantity, size, brand etc of the product. If there is need for another queries like sample patterns,

catalogues or price lists, then it should be mentioned exclusively in the letter.

The intending buyer should ask for the terms and conditions for the

payment and delivery of the goods or services.

The intending buyer should show urgency of early information so

that there should be expression of hope in the desired enquiry from

the supplier.

Drafting of an Enquiry Letter

The enquiry letter should begin with a direct question or questions.

The information should be asked directly without jumbling of words

or ideas.

The enquiry letter should be directly properly to the

requirements of goods or services should be stated in a

straightforward manner.

should be kept short as far as possible and it should be to the

point.

enquiry letter there has to be appropriate opening and closing sentences so that it should look

relevant with the subject.

Kinds of Business-Enquiry Letter

(1) General enquiry of goods, services and other information etc, i.e. asking for price,

quality, terms and conditions.(2) Tabulated Enquiry.

(3) Asking for catalogues and price-lists.(4) Asking for samples, patterns etc.

(5) Asking for goods on approval on return basis.

(6) Asking for concessions and special terms.

General Enquiry

The letter about general enquiry consists of asking information

about the prices and other terms for any item required in day-to-day

business. This enquiry can be for stationary products or office

equipments or any goods for sale..

The drafting of such enquiry letter is easy and should start by putting questions and giving details of the items required. Finally there has to

be stress upon the urgency or information so that the reply is received by the sender at the

earliest.

These types of letters should be written in direct style and it should

be abstained from writing introduction or preface. In this

letter question is put forward to the correspondent or reader of the letter. The letter should be closed after giving information in brief.

Tabulated Enquiry

Tabulated enquiry is those where information is asked through several points or questions in serial order. The information asked can be divided into several parts and all points are

serially numbered. This type of letter writing is useful for both the reader and writer as it

clearly specifics the points within the letter. The information can be conveniently asked and

replied.

Download Letter Formats

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