Cosmetic Teeth Whitening is in very high demand. There are many ways you can operate your new or future SmileLABS™ teeth whitening business. One of these is by being a mobile service that does treatments at various trade shows in your home city, state, or region of the country. It basically involves you being available to move your business around to various shows on long weekends. This means usually Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Certain shows do better than others. Probably one the best shows to do is a “Women’s Expo” show. These are phenomenal because they attract SmileLABS™’ prime demographic, which is a female aged 25-55, with a median household income of $60,000 or higher. If you can get exclusive rights to being the only teeth whitening business (the promoters usually only accept one per show) at a Women’s Expo Show, you are almost guaranteed a fantastic return on rent and time. Many result in 70 or more whitening appointments per show, and are only limited by the number of treatment chairs and lights you have on hand. We would recommend a minimum of 3, and 4 or more chairs and lights is even better. Usually all the chairs you have at a Women’s Expo will be constantly filled, with people standing in line and waiting to get their teeth  whitened.

Word spreads fast throughout the show that you have a great teeth whitening product at a great price, so business could get quite hectic. If you can afford it, purchase a 10-foot by 20- or 30-foot booth and have at least 4 or more chairs and lights to handle this show. Also, you will need some other personnel to help sell beside yourself. Have two or more young, attractive adults with bright, white and friendly smiles out front talking to passing customers and getting them started on paperwork, or cashing out after their teeth whitening treatment. This will free you to do the actual treatments yourself. However, all personnel should be fully trained in aspects of the procedure so they can fill in anywhere else they are needed.

Other good shows to consider are “Men Lifestyle and Toy Expo”-type shows, health fair shows, and some Home & Garden Shows. The question you need to ask regarding a particular show is, “Will this show bring in a large number of our prime demographic customers?” Sometimes this has to do with where the venue is located; i.e., is it in an upscale part of town or is it closer to a “depressed” area? Even shows like state fairs can be very lucrative. State fairs can have pretty high booth rental prices, and because most are run by state governments, they will not be flexible on rental price negotiation, unlike most privately owned shows.

As far as booth size to rent, it is possible to fit two chairs and lights, a service island, water, and small table with 2 sitting chairs/stools inside a 10’ X 10’ space. Some shows almost beg to have more chairs/lights because of the high volume of willing customers wanting their teeth whitened. A 10’ X 20’ booth will easily accommodate 4 chairs/lights, and you will be prepared to handle the huge crowds. Pricing varies with each show, but try to wait until the last week before the show to get the best-negotiated price. Some shows fill fast and it is important to get the “exclusivity” for teeth whitening, especially a Women’s Expo. Do not miss out on that one because you’re waiting for a lower price and then another teeth whitening company beats you to the exclusivity advantage. Unless the show is huge, meaning in multiple buildings or floors, don’t try to compete with another teeth whitening booth if they are already booked and the show is allowing more than one teeth whitening vendor. Usually one loses big time while the other wins big time, or worse, you end up in a price war and everyone loses.

When you arrive at the local convention center on the day before the show starts, you set up your chairs, accelerator lights, a small island station(s) on rollers with drawers for your supplies, and a source of bottled water for rinsing. We recommend a minimum of two chairs, two teeth whitenening accelerator lights, one island, and a stand-mounted 5-gallon plastic jug of water with a hand pump. Bring plenty of paper towels, cups, waterless hand sanitizer liquid or wipes, and at least a one lined trashcan for easy disposal of all waste. Many venues will supply electricity. We recommend you take advantage of having the electricity so you will not have to keep recharging the batteries in the lights (Not all lights can be battery operated).  

Once set up, prior to opening day, have some fliers to hand out to all the other vendors at the show offering some sort of vendor discount. You’ll find that many will want to take advantage of this and after having their teeth whitened, they become good advertisers for you and will send you many customers from the people they meet and talk with throughout the show.

Week-end shows many times start on Friday afternoons to take advantage of getting some people coming in after their work week is over. Attendance on Fridays is usually the lightest, but you should be able to pick up a number of whitenings, especially from other vendors to whom you extended a discount, sometimes even enough to cover your rental on your space. It also gives you a chance to gear yourself up for the big influx of customers that will come on Saturday and Sunday.

You’ll have a lot of fun at these shows. You’ll get to meet a lot of other very nice people in the form of other vendors and customers. You have an opportunity to make a nice living for yourself, only work three days a week, and, if you are covering more than one city or state, get to see some of the country while you motor down the highway towards your next profitable, exciting, and fun tradeshow with your own SmileLABS™ Cosmetic Teeth Whitening business!