The company I work for has a current service manager that used to be a tech. As far as branch manager's I don't think any of them were ever techs, most came through the sales department. I don't think a service manager needs to be a tech or even have an understanding of how a forklift works. A service manager will never work on a forklift, he/she will manage. That being said our current service manager does a great job and is a great person, in my book. However, that's my opinion and everybody has their own opinion.

I think it is harder for a road tech to be service manager without micromanaging because a road tech is so used to repairing and troubleshooting everything themselves that it is hard to sit back and watch someone do your job for you. But, being a manager, it's your job to put the right person in the right job to get the job done in the most efficient manner, not look over your tech's shoulder to see exactly how they went about repairing a certain forkift.

I know for me it would be a major hurdle because some tech's drive me insane with their nonsense and I feel like strangling them. However, being a manager you can't go around strangling people, you need to be political and get the job done. So, in the end I think a road tech could be a good service manager, depends on the person.