Last night, after giving a talk about using the Web to romance customers, I sat down next to a sales manager of a local, historic meeting facility.

While we sipped sangria and tucked into our paella, she told me she was having a tough time figuring out her competition. She had tried to make a comparison to other facilities by number of rooms, capacity, menu, catering, etc. I suggested she was looking at the problem from an insider’s point of view rather than the customer’s. According to Al Ries and Jack Trout in their seminal book on the subject, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, “…you position the product in the mind of the prospect.” In other words, she needed to understand how an event planner might be thinking about her property among all the other ones they knew about...but not all event planners are the same.

I suggested she step back a bit and really think about who her customer was based on what she had to offer. It turns out that her facility is one of the few historic places in the city that hosts events. Therefore, we could try to go after a market that was interested in historic properties only, but that seemed a little narrow. I thought we should broaden our perspective to include sites that offered something beyond the typical hotel meeting room, because the event planner we were after might be looking for an unusual space to add interest to their event. They may not be thinking historical only – their thought process might be, “What space will make my event more exciting for my guests?” Once again, it’s important to put yourself in the mind of your prospect.

That made a place like the Olympic Sculpture Park Pavilion a competitor. Looking at it this way makes it clear who the competition is, and it makes it a whole lot easier to make comparisons to figure out your strengths and weaknesses.

By the time we got to the flan, it became clearer what the Sales Manager needed to do to market her property more effectively. Focusing on her property’s strengths, the messaging should center on the history and the significance that may bring to the planner’s event. She could offer tours, or co-market with groups who appreciate the history and architecture, like art museums or historical societies. Marketing activities could include sponsorship, donating space for meetings, and getting articles into their newsletters.

When you understand who you are and the market that appreciates your attributes, it just makes it a whole lot easier to understand your competition.

LinkedIn, the B2B social networking site known for its professional listings, is now offering the ability to view Company Profiles.

According to their blog, "you'll be able to see over 160,000 profiles of companies on LinkedIn, ranging from Fortune 500 companies (e.g. eBay) to philanthropic organizations (e.g. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) as well as LinkedIn's own Company Profile page."

The information could be useful, whether you're researching an industry, writing a business plan, or trying to find sales leads by company. It could also help you get some exposure for your own company. Information in the Company Profile includes:

• Number of people in your network who work at that company
• New hires, recent promotions and changes
• Most popular profiles
• Individuals in the news
• Related companies
• Key statistics: location, industry, type, company size, revenue, year founded, web address and employee stats
  

According to the LinkedIn blog, data is aggregated from LinkedIn's own database and is combined with basic industry information from Business Week.

Be careful when reading any stats like this however. There may be inaccuracies in how individuals report and the way LinkedIn puts the information together. Plus, LinkedIn is saying any company, no matter how small, can have a profile, but it's not clear how you do that yet. And the only way to get to the Company Profiles is by going to an individual's profile first -- not the easiest navigation.

For more info, read the LinkedIn blog