Text 2. Inquiries and Offers

Potential clients always want to know specific details of goods they want to buy. A letter written to a seller with the purpose of getting some information about the quality, price or the terms of delivery is known as a letter of inquiry. In some cases, such as a request for promotional materials, a recipient will have a clear interest in responding to you. In other cases, such as a request for some specific information on a product, he may not be as motivated to respond quickly. Consequently, always try to make the tone of the letter friendly and make it easy for the recipient to identify and to provide the information you need.

After receiving a letter of inquiry from the potential buyer, a seller supplies the relevant information by writing a quotation letter or an offer. In order to draw attention of customers to the products in question, a supplier in his letters can offer sales, discounts or a colour chart. An offer is a statement made by sellers usually in a written form expressing their wish to sell the goods. Offers as a rule include the description of the goods, details of the prices, discounts and the terms of payment as well as the date or the time and the place of delivery.

There are two types of offers. A free offer is made when sellers offer goods to regular customers without waiting for an inquiry. A firm offer is a promise to supply goods on terms stated. This promise may be expressed in the following words: “We make you a firm offer for delivery by the middle of June at the price quoted” or in some other words like: “The offer is the subject to acceptance within five days”. The sellers making a firm offer have the right to withdraw it at any time before it has been accepted. In practice, however, no reputable seller would risk his reputation by withdrawing his offer before the stated time.

Answer the questions:

1. What does a supplier usually do to draw attention of his customers?

2. What are the main rules of writing a letter of inquiry?

3. What is a letter of inquiry?

4. When will a recipient eagerly respond to the letter of inquiry?

5. What is an offer?

6. What types of offers do you know?

7. What can a seller include into his offer?

8. What is usually written in firm offers?

9. What right do sellers have making a firm offer?

10. How does a firm offer differ from the firm one?