OK I have to agree that it is a competitive market based on what the market/customer will stand for, and if in your part of the world, it is normal that a qualified customer, [and I would fully expect the sales department to do due diligence and qualify the customer first,] not be provided a demo for a day or 2, then no demo would be fine, and not something the other brands dealers do to get their foot in the door.
Put your self in the customers shoes for a second, they get the Toyota, Hyster and Mitsubishi forklift dealers to demo a truck for a day, the get a free service call to see how quickly and professionally the service department can help them with a question about the setup of the truck, and meet the tech who would be their contact to the dealer, but the Raymond, Crown, Cat and Yale dealers are not willing to demo a truck, for whatever reasons, maybe they say they can knock off 500.00 from the sale price by not demoing a truck or that it is the same truck as the other brand from the same parent company. As the customer, which dealers now have a better impression? The ones that want to save money by keeping the expense down for themselves?

However, comparing "capital goods" sales to "service tech's time" sales is more like comparing apples to oranges, and getting off the original topic, would you be willing to allow me to copy and paste your comparison into another discussion topic, in the "Business management" forum, because it deserves some further conversation and I would love to address it?