Inquiry Letter

What is an inquiry letter?

Any kind of a letter, that is written collecting information can be called as an inquiry letter. This information can be related to anything like product, price, job, contract etc. Employers and business owners write this type of a letter to generally obtain the desired information.

Why do the prospective employers write this type of a letter to the referees mentioned in the job application? There can be many reasons like:

• To know the family background of a candidate
• To get basic personal details of a candidate
• To know about the abilities and skills of a candidate
• To know about the character of a candidate
• To know about the candidate fitness
• To know about their quality of performance

Why do business owners write an inquiry letter? Business owners generally write this type of a letter to the third party on the basis of received reference. Such letters are written because:

• In order to know more about the business dealings
• In order to inquire about the financial capabilities
• In order to inquire about the goodwill

Types of inquiry letter

There are two basic types of the inquiry letter:

• First is, personal inquiry letter
• Second is, business inquiry letter

The prospective employers, write personal inquiry letter in order to know more about the personal status of a job applicant. It is important for the party of an employer to check the background of a prospective employee. In such an inquiry letter, an employer aims to inquire about the ability, skill set, honesty, character, fitness, integrity etc. of a candidate. Generally, when an employer receives any reference for an applicant, then he or she plans to write such a personal inquiry letter to a referee. The result of this letter, may or may not work in the favour of an applicant.

The business inquiry letter is generally, written by the business owners. Via such a letter, one owner can get in touch with another owner, to get details about the prospective customers. In other words, such a letter is also known as business status inquiry letter. This type of the letter is written, in order to collect the information about nature of the business deal, a level of honesty, goodwill, financial capability etc. Getting answer to such an inquiry letter can allow you to decide whether you should carry out a particular business transaction or not. The response to such a letter, may or may not work in your favour.

How to Write an Inquiry Letter?

Here are few things you need to take into consideration while writing an inquiry letter:

• It is important for you to write such a letter in a courteous manner. Why? It is mainly because you are asking a reader to impose some time and resources, in order to give an answer to your inquiry.
• Can you find the related information easily? If yes, then don’t bother the concerned person by writing an inquiry letter. If internet search work can give you the required information, then there is no need to write this type of an inquiry letter.
• Adequately, explain the things that you want to inquire about but this does not mean that you will exaggerate each and every point. Write such a letter to the point, without wasting the time of a reader.
• Give proper time to the reader, to revert back to your letter. Don’t be in a hurry because this may not serve your actual purpose of writing an inquiry letter. You should at least give the time of one week to the reader, to respond to your letter.
• Do you want to keep the information confidential? If yes, then do mention it in your inquiry letter.
• How can you make things easy for the third party to respond to your request? It can be done by mentioning in the letter, that you will make the payment related to the mailing cost or photocopies if required. In order to make things easy for a reader, you can also provide questionnaires or related documents.
• Write your contact details carefully, so that the reader can find it easy to get in touch with you. In contact details, you can add your address, phone number, email address etc.
• Once you receive the response to your inquiry, it is advisable for you to send a quick thank you note.

How to respond to an inquiry letter?

Have you received any kind of an inquiry letter? If yes, the do you want to revert back to it? If yes, then here is the guide that can assist you to respond to an inquiry letter:

• Write details about the things that you understood, related to the made inquiries.
• It is always advisable to personally respond to an inquiry letter and show some appreciation if the situation demands.
• In your response letter against an inquiry letter, you can include different things like reports, brochures, catalogues etc.
• Do you want your reader to take any action? If yes, then mention it in your response to an inquiry letter.
• You can also offer an advice if needed.
• Can you personally answer the inquiry letter? If no, then you can take help of another person? Let your reader know that you have taken assistance from someone and he or she will soon revert back.
• Close your response letter against an inquiry letter, by saying that you would love to help the reader in future also if required.

Inquiry Letter Writing Tips

1^st tip

What do you want to include in your inquiry letter? Why do you want to include certain things in your inquiry letter? The answers, to the above mentioned two questions, should be present in your inquiry letter.

2^nd tip

Show your anticipation and maintain the right tone of language. Provide proper outline to the reader, related to the information that you need via such an inquiry letter. It is essential for you to arrange your queries in a sequential order.

3^rd tip

It is important to write the letter by using the positive tone. Impressive opening of a letter can make it easy for the reader to understand your motive of writing such a letter. Make use of relevant facts, while writing this type of a letter. You should also use the active voice, to write an inquiry letter.

4^th tip

Don’t leave the boundaries of etiquettes, but it is important to mention the things related to the inquiries in a straightforward manner. Don’t sound too boring, while drafting such a letter. There is no need for you to be sarcastic or arrogant.