Today's blog post comes from Jack Sparacio, MSPT, COMT, CFMT, and owner of PT Marketing Consultants and Sparacio Physical Therapy. Follow him on Twitter at @SparacioPT.

>You could wait for the phone to just magically start ringing—or you could start thinking like an entrepreneur! In his bestselling, must-read book The E-myth Revisited, author Michael Gerber draws the distinction between "working in your business" and "working on your business.” While this might sound like a simple concept, as physical therapists we seem to forget that in addition to providing great patient care, we’re running a business. Just as you devote time to developing your clinical skills, you have to invest time into developing your company—and yourself as a business owner. You can be the best physical therapist in the world, but if no one knows who you are or what you're doing, your business won’t make it. And it just takes a few focused hours a week to grow your business successfully. Here are three quick tips:

Our contributing blogger today is WebPT Member, Jack Sparacio, MSPT, COMT, CFMT. He is also the Owner and President of Sparacio Physical Therapy P.C. in New York. We're excited to have Jack sharing his expertise. Thanks Jack!

 PEOPLE DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE THEY KNOW! This is universally accepted as one of the golden rules of marketing. If you want your clinic and/or company to grow, you need to develop relationships with people (especially physicians).  So, the million dollar question is…how do you achieve this? Do you need to be a salesman/saleswoman? Yes, of course you do! I cringe when I read marketing articles that tell physical therapists they don’t need to be salespeople. Why is sales such a dirty word? If it makes you feel better call it networking, or relationship building. Call it whatever you want. Unless you’re the only game in town, until another practice comes along and takes your business away, you need to be able to build relationships. Relationships that will provide stability (new patients) to your practice.

There are many ways to make initial contact with a physician. You can send out an email, make a phone call or send out a letter. Now keep in mind, the three things I previously mentioned rarely work. However, there is something that will increase your odds of getting that coveted face-to-face meeting. You need to go, in person, to the physician’s office to set up a meeting at a future date. You need to introduce yourself to their secretary (write down his/her name) and ask to meet with the physician.  Sometimes it is that simple, and you can set up a meeting. However, most of the time you need to offer them a benefit to meet with you. They want to know what’s in it for them. Why should they take their precious time to meet with you? That’s a fair question.