The wisdom of Forrest Gump is streaming through my brain right now. Remember the famous line from the movie?  “I may not be a smart man, Jenny. But I know what love is.”

Well…

“I may not be a doctor, but I know how to market one.” And at work I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.

The truth is, all of us are good at something, and sometimes we’re good at many things. But it’s really hard to be proficient at everything. That’s why I’m a big believer in focusing on getting better at my strengths rather than constantly trying to improve on my deficiencies.

As a physician, it’s important to carefully consider who you will have running your marketing program. It’s natural, and sometimes a good idea, to look first within your own office to find a referral marketing liaison who can represent your business to potential referral sources. After all, they already know all about your practice and they are already on the payroll. That sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Mayb. But maybe not.

If you really want to use someone from your current talent pool, rather than outsourcing this part of your business, you may want to first consider these things.

1. Does this person have enough time, energy, talent, and skill to meet my expectations for new referral growth?
2. If I reassign this person as a physician liaison, will their current duties go unattended and left undone?
3. If I have to hit the pause button on this person’s marketing efforts because I need them back in the office to perform their original job function, will that impact my new patient referrals? (hint: yes. yes it will)
4. Can I take time out of my schedule to get this person started on the right track?
5. Will I have the proper resources with which to run a marketing program so I can be competitive in my field?
6. How will I manage, track, and judge their marketing efforts?

4-6 are especially hard, as it takes time out of YOUR day to train, manage, track and more.  Sure, you could pass off the responsibility to your office manager as well- but will either of you have the TIME necessary to manage referral marketing activities?

If, after answering these questions, you’ve concluded that you might not want to pull one of your best resources out of their current role in your organization, you should consider outsourcing your marketing program to an organization with a core competency in marketing physician practices.

What you don’t want to do is delay starting your program and lose out on the impact you can make.

You should be able to pursue your goals with full confidence, anticipating the new business growth that is to come.