I wholeheartedly agree that without the service tech there would be no point to salesmen. No matter how good the salesman, if the service side falls on it's face that customer will never buy another lift from that company. On the other hand a good tech will help push for sales. I've never been a salesman, per se but in 11 years working for my previous employer I've pulled in many forklift sales and service contracts for our salesmen.
For instance, a few years back I get a call from my area salesman saying I needed to call this new customer that just moved into the area from California and that he's wanting to buy 4 new pcs. of equipment but he won't sign until he talks to the service tech that will be taking care of the equipment. After talking to the customer and checking the specs (which I modified...the saleman was a little miffed), he not only signed for those 4 but came back 6 months later and purchased 2 more for another location. No commission for me...no free lunch....not even a T-shirt.
Every customer that I had long term I ended up working on everything in their house, whether it was forklifts, booms and scissor lifts, stretchwrap machines, etc., And when it came to purchasing any new equipment in these areas they came to me and I turned to our sales staff.
Bottom line is, take care of your service techs or they won't take care of you!