Reporter/ advertisement sales rep collaboration?

Hello! I have a question and wanted to see what you all thought. Do you think a sales team representative and reporter should work together during interviews for stories? At my college paper , all of a sudden, the manager expects the reporter to bring a sales rep along for some interviews. For instance, a new restaurant opened near campus. Our manager suggested that while the reporter interviews the manager/staff/customers, the sales rep tries to sell them an ad. The argument is that many business owners refuse to purchase an ad when they already got a free space on the front page. This way, they think, we can get the story and the ad. "Kill two birds with one stone."

As a student journalist this raises a few flags for me. It seems off-putting to give a sales pitch during the interview. Reporters should not be trying to "win sources over." I feel that combining the two would ultimately force both reporters and sales reps to suffer.

There have to be other ways to approach this. Personally, I think they should be kept seperate. Reporters sometimes have to get creative to get the story. Shouldn't sales have to do the same?
As I student I'm also learning that this is a hard time for newspapers. Sales are not as high as they have been in the past- money is tight. However, I don't think this is the right path to take. Selling advertisements is crucial, but is this the right way to go about this?

Thanks!