Sigvaris Builds Consistent Practice for Hard Customer Care Calls
Sigvaris Group is a Swiss manufacturer of medical compression garments sold through healthcare providers, pharmacies, and specialty retailers. The North American team, based in Montreal, serves clinical accounts, buying groups, and independent retailers.
Located
Montreal, Canada
Industry
Healthcare
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Book a DemoSigvaris Group makes therapeutic compression socks, stockings, and related products distributed across North America, Europe, and beyond. Sales run through a mix of direct and channel relationships, including clinical accounts and retail buyers.
Stephanie leads learning and development for the North American operation. Jason manages the customer care representative team. Together, they own the problem of how reps handle the calls that can damage an account if they go wrong.
The Challenge
Sigvaris customer care reps field high volumes of inbound calls covering orders, product availability, and account questions. Two call types were consistently difficult to handle well: out-of-stock notifications and price increase communications. Both require delivering unwelcome news while preserving the relationship and, where possible, steering the customer toward a workable alternative.
Without structured practice, reps developed their own approaches. Quality varied significantly from rep to rep. Jason knew this was happening but had no reliable way to see which reps needed coaching on which specific behaviors. The only signals available were customer complaints and calls he happened to monitor, both slow and reactive. By the time a complaint surfaced a coaching gap, the damage was already done.
The consequences are concrete. A clinical buyer who gets an unsatisfying response to a stock issue may start sourcing from a competitor. A retail buyer who feels blindsided by a price increase, with no explanation or offered alternative, is less likely to renew. At Sigvaris's call volume, inconsistent handling across those two conversation types adds up.
The Solution
Practicing out-of-stock and price increase calls with frustrated buyers
Sigvaris launched Outdoo to the customer care team on February 18th. The initial deployment focused on two scenario types: out-of-stock conversations and price increase communications. Each has a dedicated roleplay agent configured for the relevant buyer persona — clinical buyers who prioritize availability over price, and retail buyers who are more price-sensitive and less forgiving of service disruptions.
The agents start frustrated or disappointed. Reps practice managing the emotional component of these calls, not just the informational one. That distinction matters: the hardest part of delivering bad news is rarely the information itself.
“ We needed our reps to practice the exact conversations that are hardest to handle, not generic customer service scenarios.With Outdoo we could build agents that respond the way our actual accounts respond when we have to deliver bad news.”
Scorecard data replaces complaint-driven coaching
Scorecards for each scenario evaluate the behaviors Sigvaris identified as most critical: acknowledging the customer's concern, offering alternatives, committing to follow-up, and maintaining a professional tone throughout. Reps get specific feedback on what they handled well and where they fell short, not general guidance to be more empathetic.
Session data also feeds team meetings. Reps who handle an out-of-stock or price increase call particularly well become reference points for the rest of the team, with their specific behavioral choices visible in the scorecard rather than described in vague terms.
“Having the scorecard data means we can show the whole team what a strong out-of-stock call looks like, behavior by behavior. That is much more useful than telling people to be more empathetic.”
Identifying which reps struggle with which scenario individually
Jason uses the coaching dashboard to review individual rep performance across both scenario types. Some reps handle price increase calls well but struggle with out-of-stock calls. Others show the reverse pattern. That specificity changes what coaching looks like for each person — Jason can point to exact scorecard criteria rather than coaching on generalities.
The platform's reporting is also the foundation for a global sales summit presentation. Sigvaris leadership will see how structured practice has changed the consistency of customer care performance across the North American team, with scorecard data rather than anecdote.
“I can now see which reps handle price increase calls well and which ones handle out-of-stock calls well, and they are not always the same person. That specificity changes what coaching looks like for each individual.”
The Impact
Since the February 18th launch, Sigvaris has moved from ad hoc approaches to difficult calls to a practice model with defined scenarios, clear evaluation criteria, and consistent feedback. Jason's visibility into individual rep performance no longer depends on complaints or chance observation — he can see from scorecard data which behaviors each rep needs to develop and act before the gap reaches a customer.
Structured practice deployed for two high-difficulty call types
Out-of-stock and price increase conversations now have dedicated practice scenarios with behavioral scorecards. Every rep has documented practice on both call types before handling them live, rather than encountering them for the first time on an account call.
Behavioral gaps visible before they reach the customer
Jason can see which reps score low on specific behaviors across both scenario types without waiting for a complaint. Coaching happens proactively. The feedback loop that previously ran through customer dissatisfaction now runs through scorecard data.
Training quality ready to present at global sales summit
The deployment gives Sigvaris leadership concrete evidence of how the North American team is investing in customer care consistency. Scorecard data and performance trends across the team can be presented at the global sales summit with specifics, not generalities.
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