By Cathy Sovinsky

Youve got some great patients who come to you religiously for their adjustments. You think youve sold them as a lifetime chiropractic patient. Think again.

I overheard my husband on speaker phone making an appointment for us both to get our eyes examined. We havent been to this optometrist for a few years, so the receptionist was cordially going through her list of questions. I heard the tone of the conversation shift to a more familiar, enthusiastic tone.

Hey, she exclaimed, Youre my chiropractor!

No way, whats your name he asked with anticipation.

Kris Adams, well it used to be King. Im married now.

We both immediately remembered her. She was probably 13 when we sold the practice. She used to come in with both of her parents every three weeks for at least 7 years.

Are you still practicing she asked. I havent been to a chiropractor since you left. Id love to get adjusted.

He explained that he was not, and continued making our appointments.

Throughout the day we both recalled more details about her and her family. We remember that she had a benign brain tumor the size of an orange, removed when she was 8. She came into the office to get adjusted on her way home from the hospital with a bandage wrapped around her head. Her mothers name was Sarah and her dads name was Burt. She had an aunt and uncle and two cousins, the Callahans, that came just as frequently as she and her family.

When we entered the optometrists office the conversation revealed that shes now married and has two children. Some time has passed!

I was absolutely shocked, and still am, when she told us that not only does she not get adjusted anymore, but her parents stopped as well after we sold the practice and so did her aunt and uncle.

We didnt leave our patients to just anybody. We sold the practice to a great doctor, a great man. He is extremely competent and proficient at the same technique that Dr. Sovinsky did. He was Dr. Sovinskys chiropractor. Yet seven of our most faithful patients, never returned after we left. They never saw a chiropractor again. And this woman still considers Dr. Sovinsky her chiropractor.

Chiropractors tend to be so product oriented. They expound about how great chiropractic is and wonders it can do for you, and its all true, but your patients arent showing up for chiropractic. Sure, they come because they feel better when they do, but its not chiropractic that keeps them coming, its not your technique or your extremely thorough exam that insurance companies will pay for. They come to YOU, not just any chiropractor. They come to see YOU because YOU build a RELATIONSHP with each one of them, 2 minutes at time. In a patient-centered office its about the relationships and the experience they get at your office.

The patients who you think wrote you and chiropractic off because they didnt commit to your maintenance plan are not gone forever, IF you leave the door open for them. If youve built a relationship with them, theyll be back when they perceive they need you again. Case in point, this all happened calling an optometrist that we havent been to in 8 years. Hes still our optometrist! Even though hed like to check our eyeballs every year, we just lost and/or broke all of our reading glasses and now perceive a need to see him. We chose to return to him because he built a relationship with us over the years. So much so that after 8 years of not seeing or speaking with him, we still consider him our optometrist.

Make it about them.