Case Study:
Royal Canin Canada
Turning objections into confident conversations
The challenge
Royal Canin Canada had successfully introduced therapeutic nutrition ranges into veterinary clinics, but a familiar barrier remained: confidence. Veterinary teams could hesitate to recommend therapeutic products when they anticipated pushback from pet owners. Objections could centre on price, personal beliefs or conflicting advice found online, making potentially difficult conversations feel high-stakes.
The challenge was to give teams a simple, repeatable way to navigate objections, while creating enough opportunity to practise that confidence could build before those conversations happened for real.
Our approach
We designed a scalable objection-handling programme built around a simple framework that teams could understand, practise and apply in real conversations.
We began with a pilot cohort of Royal Canin sales representatives, equipping them with the framework before having them co-facilitate the programme with Uspire. This train-the-trainer approach built internal confidence and created a scalable model that could be rolled out across Canada’s six time zones.
Then we added a new dimension to the learning. We created a bespoke, voice-activated AI role-play tool that simulated realistic pet-owner conversations, allowing participants to practise handling objections privately before stepping into a live group environment.
The AI adapted its responses based on how effectively the participant applied the framework, providing personalised feedback and coaching along the way. This gave learners the freedom to practise, reflect, get it wrong and try again – without the pressure of a real customer conversation.
Group practice then took the learning further, allowing participants to compare approaches, learn from one another and build confidence through repetition.
The results
The pilot gave veterinary teams a more confident, empathetic and structured approach to handling difficult conversations.
The AI element proved particularly valuable for quieter or more introverted learners, creating a psychologically safe environment where they could build experience before putting the technique into practice face-to-face.
The response was strong enough to drive further development of the tool, with the potential to deploy the learning more widely across Royal Canin’s network and explore its use as a value-added service for veterinary clinics.
Most importantly, the programme demonstrated how technology can make learning more human, not less, giving people the confidence to practise, improve and perform when the conversation really matters.
“We saw such immense value in Uspire’s objection handling training for our internal teams that we extended it to our customers to help them manage pet owner concerns. Uspire ran a launch pilot, and the feedback was incredible! Their simple framework makes it easy to understand client objections and customise pitches. Additionally, the customised AI role-play tool they built for us allows our customers to practice in private, boosting confidence and driving business growth.”
Maria Sweeney
Vet Marketing Director
Royal Canin Canada
