The greater Ann Arbor Michigan area is my service area. Ann Arbor has a population of around 122,000. (27.86 mi²) Households in Ann Arbor, MI have a median annual income of
$57,697
The aforementioned stats can fool you. Consider the following:
Number of households with income $60k:
| Ann Arbor: |
6.5% (3,127) |
| State: |
8.2% (317,209) |
Number of households with income $75k:
| Ann Arbor: |
6.9% (3,349) |
| State: |
10.3% (400,421) |
Number of households with income $100k:
| Ann Arbor: |
12.6% (6,090) |
| State: |
12.1% (469,989) |
Number of households with income $125k:
| Ann Arbor: |
9.9% (4,782) |
| Michigan: |
8.2% (317,278) |
Number of households with income $150k:
| Ann Arbor: |
4.9% (2,388) |
| Michigan: |
4.8% (186,785) |
Number of households with income $200k:
| Ann Arbor: |
7.9% (3,834) |
| Michigan: |
4.7% (180,780) |
Number of households with income > $200k:
| Ann Arbor: |
8.4% (4,043) |
| Michigan: |
4.4% (172,805) |
The University of Michigan exists here. There are major medical heath facilities in the area too. Many tech firms, some industry and various other professional men and women live and work here.
Consider this: My guess is that Hagopian alone pulls in more than a few thousand rugs a year from Ann Arbor with their various advertising campaigns and also having a high profile satellite store as a drop-off location.* This despite Ann Arbor's 50 different carpet cleaning companies claiming to clean rugs too! Everyone makes a dent in the market place. Then there is little me. Yet, I am still able to do enough volume to justify my little in-plant operation even not doing TV, Radio, mailings or print ads.
You say there is only a few offering rug washing in the population that you described? Then perhaps you need to study the demographics even more closely.
I find across the country that schools of higher education, health care facilities, and other professional services like engineering, law, contactors of varying sorts help bring staff (your potential customers) into the area that will have rugs and can afford to have them washed.
Try this: Have your on-location carpet cleaning techs start counting the rugs they see in each home they service. They you will know better just from your customer base, how much money you are leaving on the floor.
Just some of my ideas to ponder.
*Please note: I have no real knowledge what Hagopian does in Ann Arbor. That is there business and we consider them a
Centrum Force /
MOR client. However, Ken Snow did tell me around 3500 rugs a year. That was a long time ago and no dollars were discussed.
