Moment of truth 10 of 13: typical visits.

As the cadence of visits becomes routine, it's common to start taking the patient for granted. The busiest chiropractors avoid this by being authentically interested in the patient—their life, their struggles, their successes and their dreams.

Rather than canned table talk sermons, these chiropractors provoke critical thinking by asking Socratic questions. These can stimulate conversation and promote an exchange of ideas.

Your objective is to understand their worldview and beliefs. Avoid the temptation of pontificating about yours, only revealing your perspective if directly asked.

This type of ongoing dialogue is true education in the classical sense. Creating a change of belief and embracing a natural health perspective is far more likely to occur by asking rather than telling; listening rather than speaking.

What many forget is that when you show up interested, you are perceived as being interesting, improving patient retention.

Bill Esteb has been a chiropractic patient and advocate since 1981. He is the creative director of Patient Media and the co-founder of Perfect Patients. He’s been a regular speaker at chiropractic gatherings since 1985. His 12 books explore the doctor/patient relationship from a patient's point of view. His chiropractic blog, in-office consultations, patient focus groups and consulting calls have helped hundreds of chiropractors around the world. Since 1999 Monday Morning Motivation has been emailed to over 10,000 subscribers each week.