Steven Babitsky Esq.
Physicians may consult in one or more of hundreds of different niches for industry, providers, pharma, etc. Many successful physician consultants provide insight and nuanced knowledge in their field. If the client can look up the answer to their problem on google then they likely do not need a consultant. One of the most important things that physician consultants can provide in complex consulting assignments is the key missing ingredient (or what consultants call the secret sauce). This is often the one piece of knowledge, experience, or insight without which the consultation may be doomed to failure. Without this piece of information, the “puzzle” of the assignment cannot be fully completed. While the physician consultant is often paid by the hour for their time, their real value may in fact be the providing of the secret sauce. Let’s look at an example:
Setting up an expert witness referral business
Here, the client was an expert witness who wanted to leverage her time by getting together other experts in a referral business. The consultation touched on 15-20 different issues that needed to be dealt with in an efficient, effective manner. Getting all these issues covered, however, would not lead to success without the secret sauce (e.g. payment of the independent expert witnesses). Almost all the competing referral businesses pay their experts as little as possible to increase the profit margin on each assignment. So, if the assignment results in a $3,000 fee they might pay the expert $1,000. The problem with this approach is that it leads to expert dissatisfaction, turnover, new competitors, and an ongoing headache. What was the SECRET SAUCE here? Pay the experts as much as possible where you can still make a good profit (e.g. 50%). This reduces dissatisfaction, turnover, and competition as the savvy expert realizes he is better off with 50% of the fee without having to deal with the marketing and administrative headaches.
Conclusion
The successful physician consultant will be ready, willing, and able to provide the secret sauce to their clients.
About the Author
Steven Babitsky Esq. is one of the trainers in the SEAK streaming video How to Start, Build and Run a Successful Physician Consulting Practice: https://seak-streaming-content.teachable.com/p/how-to-start-build-and-run-a-successful-physician-consulting-practice
