Xobni - A fantastic Outlook Companion

Written by Justyn

Sunday, 01 March 2009 18:20

Xobni ("Inbox" backwards) is a free tool for Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007 which offers a very compelling set of features for Sales Professionals. These features come in three main areas - organization, relationship building and productivity. In a year when experts predict the average adult will spend 41% of their work time managing email, any increase in productivity is highly desirable. Here are the main reasons I like (and continue to use) Xobni;

Enhanced Search Features - The search capability in Outlook 2007 is pretty stellar, but Xobni makes it even better. The search results pull up emails containing the search term as well as contacts which appear at the top of the results. Using Outlook search, you only get a list of emails, which you can then sort by contact, but it's a clunky process. In Xobni it's a snap. xobni sidebar.png

User Profile/Data/Stats - When you highlight an email in Outlook, Xobni displays information specific to that contact. This includes contact information, pictures (from LinkedIn or Facebook), who else they email, email history grouped by conversation and all attachments passed between you and that user. You can also add the user to your LinkedIn or Facebook networks (I recommend you stick with LinkedIn for business). This is one of my favorite features of the tool. Instead of periodicallyand manually adding contacts to LinkedIn, I can do it instantly. You will also be presented with company information from Hoovers as well as statistics which include number of emails sent/recieved, and the users email activity by hour (pinpoint the best time to get a response.

Replaces LinkedIn Outlook Add-In - This may not be a wide-spread problem, but the Outlook tool from LinkedIn always seems to crash my email client. I install it every few months, because I think it's a great tool, but when I get tired of the crashes I uninstall it and it's back to manual LinkedIn interaction. With Xobni I get the LinkedIn tool I really want (adding to my network) and no crashes.

Here's a more comprehensive list of what you'll get when you use Xobni;

Faster, more comprehensive search
Detailed user information
LinkedIn and Facebook integration
Email history with user by conversation
History of files exchanged between you and the user
Ability to schedule time with the user based on your calendar openings
Hoovers company profile information
Contacts you have in common with the user
An overall better, more efficient outlook experience.

It's a free tool that installs without fuss (though it does take a few minutes to index your email). I highly recommend you give it a try and let me know what you think.

Reader Question: What do you like most about Xobni?

Xobni in Outlook

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