 When you need information about materials, price,

discount and other information, you should write a

letter of inquiry. This letter may contain any
business information which you need to know.

 A letter to request information deals with various

matter like job vacancies, funding, sales, pre-
proposal, etc.

 In the business world, various letters are

communicated and among them inquiry letter is a
one which seeks information for future decision.
 Generally when a buyer sends a letter to a
producer or seller of a product or service to know
about any product or service in detail such a
letter is termed as inquiry letter.

 In broad sense, when a buyer wishes to get some

information about the quantity, price, quality and
availability of goods or about the terms of sale,
he writes a letter to the seller known to be
inquiry letter. Here you can get definition, forms
and content of inquiry letter.

 In writing the inquiry, you should clearly state

the type of information you want. If necessary,
you may give the detail of the information so
that you can get the exact material you require.
A. Opening Paragraph
- We should be pleased/glad if you could
send us your latest catalogue.
- Please let us have your illustrate
catalogues, terms of payment and terms
of delivery.
- We are interested in your products and
should be pleased if you could send us
your catalogue, price-list and terms of
payment.
- We have seen your advertisement in Jakarta
Times and should be pleased if you could
send
us your catalogue and price-list.
- We have seen your product at your stand at
Jakarta fair and should be pleased if you could
send us your latest catalogues and price-list.
- With reference to your advertisement in
Jakarta post I read a few days ago, would you
please send your catalogues, price-list and
term of payment.
B. Requesting Information
- We would like to know whether you can offer
us a special discount.
- Please let us know your terms of payment
- Would you please let us know whether you can
offer us a special discount for this month.
C. Closing Paragraph
- We should be pleased to receive your prompt
replay.
- We look forward to receiving your reply
(immediately)
- We should appreciate your prompt reply
- We hope you will be able to send us replay by
return.
 22nd November, 2005
Marketing Manager
Maestro International Inc.
143B Jln. Semanggi Raya
Jakarta 10009

Dear Sir,

With reference to your advertisement in Today’s Jakarta Times,

would you please send me your color catalogues with full details of
prices and terms of payment of your quality furniture and lightings.
I should also be grateful for a quotation for 100 units of table MZ5
and lighting TU 25Z.
I should be pleased to have your reply promptly.

Yours faithfully,

Robert T, Lee
Purchase Manager
 WHAT IS BUSINESS LETTER?

 It is a letter written in formal language, used when

writing from one business organization to another, or
for correspondence between such organizations and
their customers, clients and other external parties
 Business letter is type of letter which serves as a
means of communication written for various
commercial purposes.
 These purposes can be a business deal,
complaint, warning, notice, invitation, apology,
information, etc.
 1. LETTER HEAD
 Includes the company’s logo / symbol / company’s
name, address, ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan),
telephone number, fax number, email address and
website of the company.
 Printed at the top center/left or the right side.
 2. REFERENCE LINE

 Some companies, especially big ones have a

system of tracking letters by chronological
numbers, employee initials, department
codes/numbers or whatever else they
choose.
 The reference is typed immediately below
the date. Examples of references:
 REFERENCE LINE

 Example of the reference line:

Ref: WS/LS/C59

 WS is the initial of the person who signs

the letter, William Smith
 LS is the initial of the person who writes
the letter.
 C59 is the filing number from the filing
system
 This for Replying Format
 Your ref : LH / DC / 2D = Reference surat masuk
 Our ref : RM / AM / 21A = Reference surat keluar
 3. DATE OF THE LETTER
 Date consists of the date, name of the month and the
year.
 Date line indicates when the letter was written. The
date is written in two styles.
1. The British Method : 4 July, 2012 or 4th July,2012
2. The American Method : July 4, 2012 or July 4th, 2012
 Never write like 7-2-12 or 7/2/12 because it shows that
the writer is careless or in a great hurry.

Never send a letter without a date.

 4. THE INSIDE ADDRESS
 Includes the name and address of the firm or the individual to whom
the letter is written.
 Use Courtesy titles before names of the receiver such as Mr., Mrs.,
Miss, Ms., Dr, Prof., Capt.,. etc.
 The address can also begin with a job title or a department (if you
don’t know the name). For e.g. : The Sales Manager, The Accounts
Department etc.

If you don’t know whether a woman addressed is

married or single, always use Ms.
 Mr. Richard R. Anderson
Marketing Manager
Indonesian Textile Cor
Sumitomo Building, 11th floor
9 jln. Jenderal Sudirman
Jakarta 10002

Mr. Richard R. Anderson PT. Jaya Utama Maphilindo

Sumitomo Building, 11th floor Sumitomo Building, 11th floor
9 Jln. Jendral Suduirman 9 Jln. Jendral Suduirman
Jakarta 1000 Jakarta 10002
 5. ATTENTION LINE
 How to type attention line
Attention: Mr. Robert Mann
Attention: Mr. Robert Mann, Purchase Manager
Attention: Sales Manager
Attention of Sales Manager
ATTENTION Sales Division
ATTENTION-Mr. Richard Smith
For the attention: Mr. Richard Smith
 6. SALUTATION
 It is a compliment or greeting.
 It is followed by a comma (,) or a colon (:).

 British style -- American style

Sir, -- Sir: -- Madam, -- Madam:

British American Style

Dear Sir, Dear Sir:
Dear Sirs, Dear Sirs:
Dear Madame, Gentlemen:
 ATLAS COLUMBIA CORPORATION
231 East Main Street
Portsmouth, Virginia 23001

Ref : CS/FI/12BD

October 2, 2015

Mr. Robert T. Muldon

Finance Manager
Empire Television Company
12 West Point Street
Portsmount, Virginia 21101

Dear Mr. Muldon:

...
 7. SUBJECT LINE
 Subject is used so that the reader immediately knows
what your letter is about.
 Use “Subject” or “Re”.
Example:
Subject: Presentation on Economic Growth, Globalization
and Competitiveness
OR
Re: Equipment Purchase versus Leasing
Ex:
Subject : Computer Sales
Subject – statement – June 2014
Subject : New Credit Policy

Selain menggunakan kata “subject” ada juga perusahaan yang

menggunakan kata ‘Re’ di depannya
Ex:
Re: Purchase Order No. 24x
RE: Purchase Order No. 24x
 8. BODY OF THE LETTER
 It is that portion of the letter which contains the
message or the information which the writer
wants to communicate. It is usually divided into 3
paragraphs; opening paragraph, message of the
letter, closing paragraph.
9. COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE
 It must always be followed by comma.
Example:

Your Obedient Servant, Sincerely Yours,

Yours Sincerely, Sincerely, With Best Wishes,
etc.
British Style American Style

Yours faithfully, Very truly yours,

Sincerely, Sincerely yours,
Yours sincerely, With best regards,
With best wishes, Yours very truly,
 10. SIGNATURE

 The complimentary close will be followed by

signature. Signature will be followed by the
name of the person who sign the letter and
his/her position in the company.
 11. ENCLOSURES
 Enclosure is written if you enclose any file beside of the letter
that you sent. Enclosure can be written as:
 Enclosure. Catalogue
 Enc. 2
 Encl (2)
 Enc. Catalogue
 If there is more than two attachments, enclosure is written:
 Encl:
Catalogue
Price list
Terms of payment
 12. CARBON COPY NOTATION
 A letter may be sent to another person that
needs to know about the letter. So, the carbon
copy notation needs to be written.
 Written just below the reference initials or the
enclosure whichever is last.
 Type “cc” before the names if sending a “carbon
copy notation (to)” and “copies to” for photocopy
(to).
 E.x CC: Jim Blue, Jennifer Louis
Copies to: Jim Blue, Jennifer Louis
CC or CC:
cc or cc:
 13. POST SCRIPT

 Postscript is used to emphasize the important

Information of the letter. Postscript can be
written as:
 P.S.
 PS.
 PS:
 PS-
Example:
 P.S. if you order within 10 days, we can give
you 10% discount.
 REFERENCES
BOOKS
 Bhatia, C. , Business Communication, Ane Books India, Ane’s Student Edition,
2008, PP 243 - 350
 Locker, K and Kaczmarek, S., Business Communication - Building Critical Skills,
Tata McGraw Hill, 3th edition, 2007, PP 128 - 190
 Murphy, H. Hildebrandt, H and Thomas, J. , Effective Business Communication,
Tata McGraw Hill, 7th edition, 2010, PP 156 – 276

WEB LINKS
 http://www.sc-s.si/blog/wp-content/business-letter.pdf
 http://www.mahidachintan.com/documents/Unit-8.pdf
 http://www.icosmos.com.tw/templates/images/files/9789861845586.pdf
 http://www.4hb.com/letters/business-letter-format.html
 http://www.savvy-business-correspondence.com
 Order Letters
 Order letter is business letter which is prepared to
give the order of products and some other things
from one company to another company.
 The required products and demanding services will
be written in this order letter.
 The product quantity, quality, prices, delivery date
and other necessary information about this order
written in this letter.
.
 When ordering goods, care must be taken to state
requirements clearly so that the seller will not be confused
about the exact goods asked for. It should never be
necessary for them to refer to former order or to white for
further details. If goods are ordered from a catalogue or
numbered list, the clearest indication that can be given is to
quote the catalogue or list number.
The date when delivery is required should be stated,
also the preferred method of transport-road, rail, sea, or air.
The goods may be required at the office address or at the
warehouse address of the firm. They may even be delivered
direct to the address of a customer of the buyers. It is
essential, therefore, to state where the goods are to be sent.
 Remember that all relevant information should be
given in an order letter. It is more business-like-and
certainly it helps to prevent orders being misread-to
tabulate the items required.
As a guide to the paragraphing of an order letter
you should include:
a. Reference to a source of information
b. List of goods to be ordered
c. Quantity, quality, price, catalogue number (if any)
d. Details of delivery and payment
e. An order number
 The order letter is used to order goods in
accordance
with the amount which is required by company either by
using official order form or not.
There ate two ways in making order, they are:
1. Order without using official order form
2. Order by using official order form.

Order without using official order form can be done

by only writing a letter with all details of orders by
directly enclosed it in that letter. Thus, this letter
functioned as an order letter, therefore the content must
clear, brief and direct to the purpose.
 While in great companies, generally, order is
done by using official order form. Every time
you want to make order, you can fill in the
available columns.
An order form or often called a purchase
order (PO) usually consists of these rows:
- No. (number) - Unit price
- Description/ items - Amount
- Quantity - Delivery date
- Type - Terms of payment
A. Opening Paragraph
- We have received your letter of ….(date) and should
be glad if you would accept our order for the following
goods.
- We are obliged to your quotation/letter of …(date)
and should be glad if you would accept our order for
the following goods.
- We thank you for your letter of … (date) and enclose
our official order for the following goods.
- We have received your quotation of … (date) and
please send me the following goods as soon as
possible.
- We have received your letter are satisfactory, please
arrange to deliver the following goods as quickly as
possible.
B. Describing Method of Payment
- We shall pay for the goods by bankers transfer
on receipt of your pro-forma invoice.
Pro-forma invoice is invoice that give detail of
goods being tend and it sent to the customer in
advance of the goods themselves.
- We shall open a letter of credit as soon as we
receive your pro-forma invoice
- We shall pay for the goods by banker’s transfer
within 20 days from the date of delivery.
C. Closing Paragraph
- We would be grateful for your prompt
delivery as the goods are urgently needed.
- We look forward to receiving your advice of
delivery by return
- Please kindly acknowledge this order and
confirm that you will be able to deliver the
goods by the end of this year.
 INDONESIAN MODERN OFFICE EQUIPMENT LTD
Jln.Samudra Raya No. 35B
Bandung 23001
Your ref: MP/DC/ 21
Our ref : AM/ L/ 2B

27th November, 2006

Mr. William C Parker

Marketing Manager
International Corporation Ltd
Jln. Rafflesia no. 23
Jakarta

Dear Mr. William,

Subject: Purchase Order No.365 T.

Thank you for your letter of 15 November, enclosing your catalogue, price-list, and terms of payment.

We have studied your catalogue very carefully and are very pleased with the quality of the typewriters
you offered.

We enclose our purchase order and shall pay for the typewriters by banker’s transfer on receipt of your
pro-forma invoice

Yours Sincerely,

Alan P. Mardinata
Salles Manager

Example of order letter

 INDONESIAN MODERN OFFICE EQUIPMENT LTD
Jln. Samudera Raya No. 35B
Bandung 23001
Purchase Order No.356T
To. International Corporation Ltd.
Jln. Rafflesia no.23
Jakarta Date: 26thNovember,2006

QTY Please Supply Item Catalogue N0: Price per unit $/Rp Total $/Rp

100 Silver reed 254 250.00 25,000.00

150 Canon 126 200.00 30,000.00
50 IBM 232 300,00 15,000.00

100 Remington 305 150.00 15,000.00

Total 85,000.00
Delivery date Required Terms for. Indonesian Modern Office Equipment

10 December 2006 20 days from receipt

Allan P. Martadinata
 Full Block (Bentuk Lurus Penuh)
 Block (Bentuk Lurus)
 Semi Block (Bentuk Setengah Lurus)
 Intended (Bentuk Bertakuk)
 Simplified (Bentuk yang Disederhanakan)
 Hanging Indentation (Bentuk Alinea
Menggantung)
 A full block style format for a letter means all
the text is left justified, this varies from a
semi-modified block style format in which
some elements are right justified, full block
format is a formal style that is common for
business letters
 Block style is a letter (usually business letter)
format where all typed content is aligned with
the left margin and no indentation.

 A block letter typically contains specific

components. These include the sender's
name, address, phone, the recipient's name
and address, the current date, a reference
statement (usually beginning with "Re:"), the
subject, and the main body.

 A block letter could be used as a template

letter, one that is used for all correspondence
of a specific nature or type.
 A semi-block style letter is a less formal
version of a block or a full-block letter .The
semi-block style is also called modified semi-
block because it is a modified version of the
block or full block style.
 The block and full block styles display a
uniformity with the margin alignment, which
gives a business letter a more formal
appearance. Depending on the purpose and
content of the letter.
 Semi-block format may be more desirable for
less formal business correspondence
 Indented style is somewhat more complicated
than other popular styles of business writing.
Other parts of a business letter are moved
farther to the right half of the page. Indented
style is one of the older formats for business
writing currently in use, though other formats
are becoming more popular.

 Indented style is a format that many of

today’s business people were trained to use.
 The simplified style business letter is a
variation of the full-block and semi-block
letter formats. Business professionals take
you more seriously when you format your
written communications using one of these
formats.

 A personal letter format is acceptable for

writing to a friend, but using this format
when you are sending a communication to
another business owner can make you look
unprofessional
 This style useful for letters that deal with a
variety of different topics. However, for
normal business communications, this style is
very rarely used.
PART OF BUSINESS LETTER
EXERCISE
Fill the blanks with the appropriate part of business letter
1. __________ Is the place for the writer to handwrite their
name.
Signature
2. The recipients name, company name, and address are called the _____________

3. TheInside
purpose ofAddress
the letter is included in the _________________

Body
4. Yours truly, is anof Letter
example of a ______________

Complementary Close
5. The tracking letter system in a business letter is
______________
Reference Line
6. The __________ is when the letter is written.
Date of Letter
7. The_________ is the address of the letter writer.
Letter Head
8. Dear mr. Johnson is a ______________
Salutation
Complete the sentence in this letter below
● applying ● enclosed ● forward ● part-time
● Resource ● Interview ● position ● sincerely

July 17, 2020

Mr. Paul Rook
Human (1) __________ Director
Island International Airport
Singapore 659589
Dear Mr. Rook:
I am (2) _________for the position of file clerk that was advertised in the July 2nd Changi News.
I worked as a (3) __________file clerk after school for three years. Now I am looking for a full-time position. I have (4)
___________ my resume, and I would like to schedule an (5) ______.
I will call you early next week to follow up on my application. I look (6) _______ to discussing this (7) _______ with you

(8) _____________ yours,

Enclosure
Liu Shia saw the job advertisement on a website and answer it. Underline boxes shows ten place where Liu
Shia made error. Write the correct word or punctuation.

Subject: Secretarial Positioning

Dear Recruiter,
I am responding for the secretarial vacancy posted on August 16 in your Web site.
I have been an executive secretary since five years. I also have trained other secretaryes how to use word
processing and accounting software I type over 90 wpm, and I am very organized. I have attached my resume
to this e-mail.
I will e-mail you next week to follow up on my apply. I look forward to hear for you soon.

Sincere yours,

Liu Shia
 Acknowledging Orders
After an order is received from the purchaser (buyer),
the seller will full fill the order as soon as possible.
In fulfilling an order, anything can happen, for instance:
• The goods/products which are ordered are unavailable
or exhausted 9sold out), then the goods should be
ordered from the factory first.
• The customer requested a special term, for instance
the flexibility in payment, the adjustment of the date of
delivery or maybe some difficulties in delivering the
order.
• New customer. The seller needs to examine the
credibility of new customer. For this, usually the seller
needs reference from the third party, for example one
of the buyer’s customer or maybe from the bank where
the buyer becomes its customer.
 If the seller hasn’t known the buyer well, of
course the seller won’t believe that the goods/the products
which are sent will be paid by the buyer as it is hoped.
However, the sellers don’t want to lose the chance to sell
their products. So that the seller will send a pro-forma
invoice to the buyer before the goods are sent.
After purchase division feel sure that the order can be
fulfilled in accordance with the amount asked, then they will
inform the buyer. However, the delivery cannot be done
since the goods must be paid first, in accordance with the
company policy that rejected payment in credit.
 By receiving this acknowledging letter, then
the buyer will do the payment as soon as
possible, so that the goods can be received
on time.

A. Opening Paragraph
- We thank your order of ….(date) and will dispatch
the goods by …. (transportation)
- We are pleased to acknowledge your order of
….(date) and will dispatch the goods by ….
- We acknowledge with thank your order No…..of
….(date and enclose our pro-forma invoice no ....
- We are pleased to let you know that the good included in
your order no ….of ….)date) will be dispatched today by
B. Closing Paragraph
- We have been very happy to serve you and lock
forward to receiving your further order.
- We hope we may have further orders from you
- We are pleased to let you know that the goods will
be dispatched today
- We hope the goods will reach you safely
- We feel sure that you will find these goods
satisfactory and perfectly suited to your needs.
- We look forward to receiving further orders from
you in future.
 INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION LTD
Jln. Rafflesia no. 23
Jakarta
Your ref: AM/L/2B
Our ref: WP/DC/22C
30th November,2006

Mr. Allan P. Martadinata

Sales Manager
Indonesian Modern Office Equipment ltd.
Jln. Samudra Raya No. 35B
Bandung 23001

Dear Mr. Martadinata,

Subject: Purchase Order No. 365T

We are pleased to acknowledge your order of 26 th November for:

100 units Silver reed Catalogue No. 254
150 units Canon Catalogue No. 126
50 units IBM Catalogue No. 232
100 units Remington Catalogue No. 305

We enclose our pro-forma invoice as requested in your letter. The goods will be despatched by training on receipt of your banker ’s transfer.

Your Sincerely,

William C. Parker
Marketing Manager

Enc.1