Whether you're associated with a school, organization or business, you may be approached by vendors asking you to use the vendor's services or products. If you aren't interested in what they have to sell, have a better offer from another vendor selling a similar product or service, or if you're not interested at this time, but would like to reconsider their offer in the future, you should follow some basic steps when communicating to a vendor that you are not interested in their offer.

Format Your Letter

Format your letter in formal business letter style. This means all writing will be aligned to the left, single-spaced, with a full blank line between each element and a paragraph. Using your company letterhead is preferred.

Include your return address. The first line of your letter will be your street address. The second line will contain your city, state and ZIP code. If you are using your company letterhead with a return address specified, this step can be skipped.

Identify the date you are writing the letter after your return address. To stay true to professional business letter format, you should write the date so that the day is first, then the month and finally the year. No commas are necessary in this dating format. Leave one full blank line after the day's date.

Identify who it is you are mailing your letter to.This section is comprised of five lines. The first line contains the full name of the recipient; the second line identifies his title (such as Manager); the third line identifies the company the individual works for; the fourth line contains the street address; and the fifth and final line contains the city, state and ZIP code.

Open and close your letter correctly. The most commonly accepted greeting begins with "Dear," then the recipient's name in formal format (Mr. John Smith, Mrs. Sally Walker) followed by a colon. The most commonly accepted closing is "Sincerely" followed by a comma and three blank lines in which you will write your signature. Follow your signature with your typed name, your position and your company.

Compose Your Letter

Explain that you have read their proposal, but choose to pass at this time.

Give an explanation as to why you are not interested, whether it be timing, current need or cost. If the vendor knows why you are not interested in this time, they may be able to cater a second proposal to better suit your needs.

Thank the vendor for drafting a proposal. Indicate when you would like to hear from him again, if you are so interested.

Warning

Do not make any commitments in your letter, as these can be considered legally binding.