It seems by the survey results most everyone doesn't believe lower rates will help. Well it depends on what kind of help one needs. People in my region are not very well off to begin with and now with the economy in a slump, many (if not all) are looking to save a few dollars. People are still inquiring about storage space so the need is still there.
I took a look at my occupancy and decided that I had quite a few small sized units that had very low occupancy and they were just sitting there in inventory.
So I lowered rates on four sizes by 8% and advertised them as specials for a month. It's working, in that people are responding for the chance to save a few bucks. The units are idle anyway so what's the worst that could happen, they move out in a month or two. I've still collected some rent. Or, new customers may stay for several months. Some rent is better than no rent.
Is lowering all rents the answer to all our problems....no I don't think so. We do, however, need to be resourceful and inventive to capture as many customers as we can in these tough times.