Business letters are written for the fulfillment of several purposes. The purpose may be to enquire about a product to know its price and quality, availability, etc. This purpose is served if you write a letter of enquiry to the supplier. After receiving your letter the supplier may send you details about the product as per your query. If satisfied, you may give order for supply of goods as per your requirement. After receiving the items, if you find that the product is defective or damaged, you may lodge a complaint. These are the few instances in which business correspondence takes place. Let us learn the details about some important business letters.
- Business Enquiry Letter
Sometimes prospective buyers want to know the details of the goods which they want to buy, like quality, quantity, price, mode of delivery and payment, etc. They may also ask for a sample. The letter written to sellers with one or more of the above purposes is known as enquiry letter.
Points to be kept in mind while writing letters of enquiry-
- Letters of enquiry should clearly state the information required, which may be asking for a price list or a
- Write specifically about the design, size, quantity, quality, etc. about the product or service in which the buyer is interested.
- The period or the date, till which information is required, may also be mentioned.
- Quotation Letter
After receiving the letter of enquiry from a prospective buyer, the sellers supply the relevant information by writing a letter that is called quotation letter. These letters are written keeping in view the information asked for like price list, mode of payment, discount to be allowed etc. Businessman should reply to the inquiries carefully and promptly.
- Order Letter
In the previous section, we have studied about letters of enquiry and reply to enquiry i.e., quotation letter. The prospective buyer after receiving the reply to his enquiry letter may decide to place on order with that business house which offers goods at minimum price and at favourable terms and
conditions. Letters written by a buyer to the seller giving the order to purchase the goods is called order letter.
- A complaint letter
A complaint letter is written when the purchaser does not find the goods up to his satisfaction. It is normally written by the purchaser when he receives wrong, defective or damaged goods or receives incorrect quantity of goods. It can also be written directly to the transit authority when the goods are damaged in transit. Thus, we may define a letter of complaint as the letter that draws the attention of the supplier or any other party on account of supply of defective or damaged goods.
Points to be considered while writing a complaint letter-
Complaint letters should be written immediately after receiving the defective goods.
Mistakes as well as difficulty due to mistake should be mentioned clearly
Proposal to correct the mistakes should be made
Suggestions on how the complaint should be dealt with, i.e., mention of compensation, replacement, discount, cancellation etc. should be made.
Mention period in which the corrective action should be taken Request to be careful in future.