Inquiry Letter (Eng)

Inquiry letters. What are those? Before we answer that, let me explain what "inquiry" means.

Inquiry stems from the word inquire, which means "to ask" or "to put a question". So an inquiry is a process, any process that has the aim of increasing knowledge, information, resolving doubt, or solving a problem.

Another definition for inquiry is "to investigate", as in to arrange an investigation. While this is true, the inquiry we're talking about here is the former definition, not the latter. We're talking business here not a crime investigation.

Now that we understand what an inquiry means, what is an inquiry letter?

Inquiry letters are written for the purpose of asking for something from the recipient. Inquiries can be sent as a formal business letter (outside of your company) or as an e-mail. Before sending your inquiry, you should be certain that the information is not available through other means, such as the company

website.

But before you write an inquiry letter about that phatek phillipe time piece that you dreamed about. There are some characteristics of an inquiry letter that you must know about.

• Write clearly and concisely

We have to state our intentions clearly and ask any questions clearly and concisely so that the recipients understand and are able to provide us with ample information related to our question.

• Be considerate and provide a sufficient timeline

Customer service is not a robot, they need time to gather our information and to have them relayed back to us. So don't be a self entitled prick. Give them a reasonable amount of time to respond to our letter.

• Provide a return address

This is not necessary if the letter is in a form of an e-mail. But if it's a physical letter, we'll need to write a return address. This is so that they know where to send their response back to us.

Finally, there are three primary categories of inquiry letters, let's go through that.

• Status inquiries: typically sent to request references or recommendations.

• Routine inquiries: Letters written to an individual or company for the purpose of gathering specific information.

• Sales related inquiries: Written to a company or individual to obtain information of a product, or a service and may be the first stem of collecting an information for a report.

Now I'm going to write an example of an inquiry letter. My letter will be categorized as a routine inquiry letter. The example provided by my teacher falls under the sales related inquiry, so I decided to make a different one to that rather than write an existing example.

As before, this is an example. I do NOT allow any use of this letter outside being an example and as such it is not my responsibility for any misuse of my letter.

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March 31st, 2021

Mr. Yonatan Kachko, General Manager

Four Seasons Jakarta

Gatot Subroto Kav. 18

South Jakarta, SCR Jakarta 12710

Dear Mr. Kachko,

I am writing this letter to inquire whether Four Seasons Jakarta hotel is able to provide meeting rooms and accommodations for 75 Harvest & Trustee Group sales representatives from October 3rd through 5th.

The planning committee received all round strong recommendations to your hotel due to it’s excellent rooms, bar, and conference facilities. Our 3rd quarter sales conference is scheduled for next October and I’m gathering information to relay it to our planning committee. Will you kindly provide answers to these additional questions regarding Four Seasons Jakarta?

1. Does the hotel have a ballroom or the equivalent that can seat up to 100 attendees?

2. How many meeting rooms does your hotel have?

3. Are the meeting rooms able to accommodate a maximum of 25 people per room?

4. Do you supply a projector and other necessary equipment for presentations?

5. Do you provide transportation, preferably a shuttle bus to other locations?

I would be pleased if you could answer these questions provided as it will help us decide which hotel with conference capabilities to pick. I am expecting your response before the end of June. I will greatly appreciate it however if you can reply as soon as April, since our planning committee meets on July 4th.

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to hearing your reply to my inquiry very soon.

Best Regards,

Trevor Hanaway

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Now with the writing out of the way, let me partition each section with a marker.

I hope you gained newfound knowledge after reading this, Thank you for reading this far down. Have a cookie!

Additional info gathered from Wikipedia for Inquiry and Sam M. Walton College of Business on Inquiry Letter.