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In English, there is a certain etiquette to follow when writing a business
letter. From what I've seen so far, the same seems to be true in Japanese as
well.

If I was making a business-related request to someone who has helped me a lot
in the past, I can start my email with `いつもお世話になり、ありがとうございます。` Likewise, if
I'm asking someone that has just done something for me, I could use `お疲れ様です。`

However, if I needed to make a business request to someone I don't know well,
is there a general opening phrase I could use?

How about if I don't know that person well, but they work in my department?

What if they were in the same company, but a different department?

What about if they worked for another company?
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question
culture phrase-requests business-japanese greetings email
How should I start an email when requesting something from someone I don't know well?
> はじめまして  
> 'This is the first time seeing you'

is a standard expression.

If that person is in the same company, regardless of the department, you can
continue as

> ...部門の...と申します  
>  'I am called ..., and am from the ... department'

It is more polite than

> ...部門の...です  
>  'I am ... from the ... department',

which may, but not necessarily, presuppose that the person should already know
your existence.

If that person is in a different company, you should rather continue with

> ...会社...部門の...と申します
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answer
You have to read the last sentence in the next paragraph to get your specific
answer. I borrowed a good letter example from [a site with a lot of business
templates](http://email.chottu.net/example/out-office/irai.html#30).

First of all, you have to say the addressee's name, career, and you have to
say "Sama", and it should be delimited with line breaks and followed by two
line breaks (Or maybe carriage returns. I don't know the difference, or which
is more proper). Then, you use はじめまして。 You do a line break. Then you do
business type '株式会社(かぶしきがいしゃ)' and business name (they come in different
orders because the official company name may have かぶしきがいしゃ before, and it may
have it after, and you really have to get it correct), section name
(営業部の部の意味は"section") and のyour name, then と申します(もうす). 申します 'it's said this
way' and has the same meaning as と言います, but it's 謙譲語(けんじょうご). It has the
humble tone because it's humble language, and it says that you're speaking to
someone who is in a higher place, kind of. `突然のメール､失礼いたします` is the greeting.
It means: "Sorry for the sudden message."

> 件名：ご講演の依頼  
>  ○○○株式会社  
>  中村 裕子様
>
> はじめまして。  
>  株式会社山田商事､営業部の山田太郎と申します。  
>  突然のメール､失礼いたします。 <<(THIS IS THE GREETING)

You can inspect the rest of the letter, yourself, below. This letter is a
request for a guest speaker from a high-ranking person at another company,
Nakamura-Sama (中村 裕子様). It's a standard 'request' letter, when you're not
asking for any specific kind of favor; however, there are letters for some
specific kinds of requests, and you should be careful. At the website I
mentioned, there are templates for other things that you can ask for. For
example, there is a letter requesting permission to relocate, from an employee
to his boss, and there are many types of templates for to request that someone
take action to correct a mistake of some kind. The kind of mistake they want
corrected makes the letter's content change dramatically.

> さて､このたびは弊社主催の研修セミナーにて､  
>  中村先生にぜひご講演をお願いいたしたく､  
>  ご連絡させていただきました。
>
> 現代の国際事情を読み解き､ベストセラーになっている  
>  ご著書『これからの東アジア情勢』は  
>  社内でも話題の1冊になっております。  
>  先生のお話は､わが社の社員にとって  
>  貴重なものになると確信しております。
>
> ご多用中のところ誠に恐縮ですが､  
>  下記のようなテ-マおよび条件にて  
>  ご講演をお願いできればと考えております。
>
> * * *
>
> テーマ: ｢東アジアでのビジネス展開｣  
>  日時:平成20年5月1日(月)午後6時～8時  
>  会場:当社2階大ホール  
>  参加者:当社社員約550名  
>  謝礼: 80万円(交通費別途)
>
> * * *
>
> なお､ご都合をお伺いするために､  
>  週明けにこちらからお電話させていただきます。  
>  ご検討のほど､なにとぞよろしくお願い申し上げます。
>
> * * *
>
> 株式会社 山田商事 営業部  
>  山田 太郎(ヤマダ タロウ)  
>  〒564-9999  
>  大阪府○○市△△町11-9 2F  
>  TEL：066-9999-9999(直通) 066-9999-9999 (代表)
>
> ## FAX：066-9999-9999

I am also afraid that I may have given you wrong information because business
manners are so specific. If you are worried about a letter, you should post
the specific letter in a question to make sure that you're writing it
correctly. There are so many differences between two different letters with
almost the exact same intention that each letter should warrant its own
individual post.
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answer