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2017 World Email Ping-Pong Challenge Announced Today

Friday March 31st, 2017, 8:08 pm

Mesmo Consultancy is delighted to announce nominations are now being accepted for the 2017 World Email Ping-Pong Challenge. Email ping-pong is a ‘game’ played by millions of employees every day who send pointless emails back and forth instead of picking up the phone. But we digress – we want to find out who are the world’s best email ping pong players.

Have you been in an endless round of email exchanges or spotted a ping pong email game between two people which goes nowhere and often spirals out of control. How many emails did it involve and over how many days/weeks did it last? Tell us what is the longest round of email ping pong you have ever played or spotted? Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded and for the best two responses a copy of either ‘Brilliant Email’ or ‘Taking Control of Your Inbox’.

Please send your nominations either via email or leave your comments on this blog.

Email ping-pong is symptomatic of our addiction to email and poor business email etiquette. Often we forget to use other forms of communication which could be more efficient and solve the problem more quickly, for instance the phone or a face-to-face conversation (live or by video-link).

In January 2017 DMR stats reported that 269 billion emails are sent daily. In 2016 The Huffington Post reported that the average worker spends 6.3 hours a day on their email and The Economist highlighted that processing an email costs the average business just under $1 per email. So ten pointless rounds of email pong-pong means $10 down the sink. Played by ten pairs of employees at least five times a week – your business has now wasted the equivalent of $500 a week. Can you really afford to lose this much profit not to mention time and productivity lost?

Want to bow out of the World Email Ping Pong Challenge to improve performance and reclaim all this lost time and money? Then watch our latest Business Email Etiquette video on how to stop email ping-pong.

Here is a classic email Ping Pong Game in Action

  • Steve —> Rachel: Here’s the file we talked about
  • Rachel —> Steve: Great, what do you need from me?
  • Steve —> Rachel: Let me know what you think
  • Rachel —> Steve: I like it
  • Steve —>Rachel: Any improvements?
  • Rachel —> Steve: Perhaps, make the logo bigger, bolder
  • Steve —> Rachel: Like this?
  • Rachel —> Steve: No, that’s too big
  • Steve —> Rachel: Like this?
  • Rachel —> Steve: Yes, that’s much better
  • Steve —> Rachel: OK, anything else?
  • Rachel —> Steve: No don’t think so, but check with Zack in case he has any thoughts.

This email ping pong chain is already 12 messages long, and it will start a new ‘set’ with Zack…

If you want to save even more time managing email more efficiently why not call us now about our Brilliant Email Management workshops or buy yourself a copy of either Brilliant Email or Taking Control of Your Inbox.

For more time saving tips and hints why not buy a copy of one of our books or let us run a Smart Email Management workshop for you and your colleagues.
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