Hi Lisa-
Sorry to take so long in replying. Yes, I have seen the market manager approach work. I am not sure about the present climate, at the time I saw it work most of the pharmaceutical companies specialized their reps into catagories by drug type groupings. No one rep had the entire product line at their disposal to sell. This meant a territory may have several reps in order to cover the product line. The market manager however oversaw the effort of all the reps in the territory. This is why that person was the logical 'go to' to pitch storage. And, as you mentioned, they approved the reps expenses so it makes sense to cut the deal with them.
Incentives are a tricky thing. Depending on where you are in occupancy a price reduction for what is usually a long term tenant may make sense. Some money vs. no money. Sometimes it can be as simple as providing a small dumpster for their use exclusively. Or, a meeting room the market manager can use to get all their folks together occassionaly. Sometimes just asking the potential client what it would take to earn their business gives you the foot in and let's you find out what is important to them.
Also, don't forget about the medical device reps. Orthopedic hardware reps have to keep inventory onhand to sell 'right now' when medical emergencies occur. The hospitals don't keep this stuff in inventory. They depend on the rep to get it to them post haste. An emergency call to the rep from a hospital for hardware to fix a shattered hip from a car accident is not unusual. Another source are the vendors for motorized chairs the elderly and disabled use. Most of them are abandoning their flex space warehousing and going to having the rep work out of their home and the inventory staged in self storage.
Good Luck!
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