The Challenge: Losing Sales to Competitors—Despite Having Better Products
Sally Beauty had a problem. Nearly half their revenue came from hair color and hair care products, but 16 out of every 150 customers were walking past Sally’s professional hair color to buy boxed kits at mass retailers instead.
Why customers were shopping elsewhere: Professional hair color requires mixing components—intimidating for DIY customers who wanted the simplicity of all-in-one boxed kits.
Why store associates couldn’t help:
- Lacked confidence in their product knowledge
- Unsure how to guide customers through the mixing process
- Often avoided discussing hair color entirely
- No training on how to build a complete hair color purchase
The cost: Sally Beauty was losing customers who trusted their brand but didn’t understand their products. In a high-turnover retail environment, new associates couldn’t get up to speed fast enough to reverse this trend.
I want to thank the team responsible for these modules. They were a god-send for me - entertaining, educational, and precise, neither too much nor too little. I am confident at building rich baskets of product from all sides of the store.
- Jason Coleman, Sally Beauty Store Manager
The Solution: Gamified Training That Feels Like Real Life
We created interactive, scenario-based eLearning that let associates practice consultations before they ever approached a customer. The training put them in realistic situations where they had to identify customer needs, recommend the right products, and build complete purchases—all while getting instant feedback.
What made it work:
- Inclusive design that reflected Sally Beauty's values
Previous training featured only thin characters. We created diverse, custom characters that embodied Sally Beauty’s “you be you” mentality—all wearing proper dress code and name tags, referred to as “Beauty Advisors” just like in-store.
- Real consequences without real risk
If an associate selected the wrong hair color product in a scenario, they saw the impact immediately: wrong shade, damaged hair, unhappy customer. This helped them understand why each recommendation matters.
- Built for retention in a high-turnover environment
The training stuck because associates learned by doing, not just watching. They practiced the full consultation process—asking the right questions, selecting products, building baskets—until it became second nature.
The Gray Magic product line sold out within 48 hours of launching the curriculum! I assisted women with hair color the same day as taking the courses, and I remembered the modules and what I had learned from them. I asked the right questions, and followed through with an average of 9 product purchases.
- Jason Coleman, Sally Beauty Store Manager
The Results: A Product Line Sold Out in 48 Hours
One Sally Beauty product line—Gray Magic—sold out within 48 hours of launching the new training. Associates who had previously avoided hair color conversations were now confidently building full product baskets.
From Intimidated to Expert
Before training: Associates felt uncertain and avoided discussing hair color with customers.
After training: “I assisted women with hair color the same day as taking the courses. I remembered the modules and asked the right questions—followed through with an average of nine product purchases.”
Confidence Across the Store
Store associates didn’t just learn hair color—they gained the confidence to build “rich baskets of product from all sides of the store.” Instead of pointing customers to a single product, they were now guiding full shopping experiences.
Solving the Real Problem
Sally Beauty’s challenge wasn’t just product knowledge—it was giving frontline retail workers the confidence to act like trusted advisors instead of cashiers. The gamified training bridged that gap by making learning engaging, memorable, and immediately applicable.
The result: associates who could compete with mass retailers by offering what boxed kits never could—personalized, professional consultation.
Explore more
Whether you want to meet in-person or virtually, our team will show you how immersive learning will transform the way you train your employees.
