Building Expertise in your Chosen Market Niche as a Concierge Physician

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…When he ran out of things to say to defend a point for a strategy he was recommending, he adamantly stated “I have an MBA!” as if that conferred some type of authority or something. I thought it was such an odd thing to say to a client as a defense of a strategy he was attempting to persuade the client to follow. 

Now replace “I have an MBA” with “I have a medical license.”  If you are not promoting your expertise actively and using your charisma and referent power, why should others trust you as their expert? If you say nothing to promote your informal power in a market niche, then the sign on the wall says “I have my medical license” and not much more. 

That’s what your competitors are saying to the market if all they do is establish a concierge practice that gives patients their phone number and email address and no waiting time, and same day appointments, and blah, blah, blah amenities that everyone else in concierge medicine is attempting to sell around the country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]

By definition, an expert has specialized skill and ability. As an expert in concierge medical business development, I know what I am doing, what needs to be done and how to guide doctors and their managers on what needs to be done to secure a positive outcome. But I am not an expert in everything. So, to be a leader with expert power, I had to identify what I am an expert in, what I needed to become expert in, and what I wanted to become an expert in. I also needed to know what I don’t know, so that I could bring in other experts when I need them. This is also true for you.

Expert power starts with an inventory of one’s current skills and expertise.

Create a table similar to the one below. The goal of the exercise is to identify leadership roles where you will be the most successful.

Area of Expertise Credentials Promotion Strategy
Experience Education Awards Other
Your chosen niche example example example example How will you describe or demonstrate it to others?

When one has made the effort to become an expert, it is only fair that one receives recognition for their expertise. If you have a professional qualification in a relevant discipline, if you’ve held a high-ranking position, if you’ve worked for a very successful company, or if you’ve been given a prestigious award, then people should know this.

Be particularly mindful of how you present and defend your expertise. There’s a delicate balance between bragging and informing, and what is appropriate in one culture may not be appropriate in another. So, whatever you do to promote your image of expertise must be done in moderation. For instance, hanging an award certificate in your office, or writing articles for the trade press, may be good ways to show your expertise. Reminding people at every chance you get that you went to medical school – not so good.

I remember one consultant with whom I worked on a project with a client. When he ran out of things to say to defend a point for a strategy he was recommending, he adamantly stated “I have an MBA!” as if that conferred some type of authority or something.  I thought it was such an odd thing to say to a client as a defense of a strategy he was attempting to persuade the client to follow. Then I realized, he was in his fifties, but he had only graduated from the MBA program a few years before. When the client pushed back and said “So do many others I could ask for assistance, but what makes you such an expert that I should trust your recommendation?” I was glad he didn’t work for me. That would have been his final hour of employment.  Firing people while on a project is such an awful responsibility of leadership, but that error was as egregious as a doctor about to risk injury to  a patient by recommending a surgery that he wasn’t qualified to recommend or perform. The other firm kept him on because they sent him out there alone without a mentor or a senior to monitor his interactions with a client.

Now replace “I have an MBA” with “I have a medical license.” If you are not promoting your expertise actively and using your charisma and referent power, why should others trust you as an expert? If you say nothing to promote your informal power in a market niche, then the sign on the wall says “I have my medical license” and not much more.

In essence, that’s what your competitors are saying to the market if all they do is establish a concierge practice that gives patients their phone number and email address and no waiting time, and same day appointments, and blah, blah, blah amenities that everyone else in concierge medicine markets these days.

To build your expertise and differentiate your brand of medicine within your chosen market niche, you’ll need to master three sources of informal power:

  • Charismatic power – power that comes from a person’s natural charm and charisma (you and your team must demonstrate charisma to be able to seem affable and approachable, or people won’t buy a membership in your practice.)
  • Referent power – power from treating people well, setting a good example, demonstrating integrity, and generally behaving in such a way that others seek to please the leader and emulate their behavior. (They need to see you in the community doing healthful things, exercising, eating right, and taking care of your own health.)
  • Expert power – power from having employees, other health professionals and allied health technicians, the public at large, and already established patients with whom you have developed a relationship  know and believe that their leader has the knowledge, skills, and experience to lead them.

These informal sources of power are the most compelling. Charisma is often a natural trait that people possess – it’s quite difficult to learn to be charismatic (although it is possible). On the other hand, you can learn and develop expert and referent power much more easily. With these two power bases, you have the foundation for becoming a “transformational” leader – a leader who has integrity; inspires people with a shared vision of the future for their good health and well-being; one how sets clear goals for them; motivates people towards those goals and communicates well.

To become an influential market leader as a concierge physician, you must not only wield the power, you must make people feel good as a result of your leadership. But having it is not the same as mastering how to use it to set you apart in the market niche you’ve chosen.

In a leadership role, your patients and employees and others with whom you enjoy professional relationships will look to you for direction and support. They need to believe that you know what you’re doing, and that you have the ability to guide them to success. This is why having expert power is so important if you want to be a good concierge physician and a healthcare leader.

When you’re perceived as an expert, people trust you. For example, physicians trust consultants to help them build a practice, guide strategic planning, keep them in compliance with regulations, and execute strategies or troubleshoot problems in their practice, because of their expertise. This is the same sort of trust that your patients, employees and colleagues give you when you’re their “go to” expert.

Along with trust in your skills comes trust in your judgment. As an expert, patients and other healthcare professionals in the community will bring problems that they’re having, and trust that you will know how to produce excellent results. They will also trust that you have the wisdom needed to reach the end goal or objective they want to achieve. All of this will lead your followers to respect you and your abilities as a concierge physician within your chosen market niche.

As a whole, expert power helps you to influence people’s behavior, and motivate them to do great things. Because you will earn the respect of your followers and your peers, you will likely have fewer of the people problems that non-expert leaders have.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][vc_column_text]Handbook of Concierge Medical Practice Design[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]This article is an excerpt from The Handbook of Concierge Medical Practice Design, published by CRC |Productivity Press.  Copies are available at pre-release discounts from the publisher  or at Amazon.com.

CRC Press, a premier global publisher of scientific, technical, and medical content, provides essential material for academics, professionals, and students. CRC Press products include world-class references, handbooks, and textbooks as well as the award-winning CRCnetBASE eBook collections. CRC Press is a member of Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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