I have a close friend who worked in the alcohol industry as a rep for most of her career. We spoke about how businesses in Australia like reps calling on them and she said it is a really important part of sales.
My partner is also of the same opinion despite being made redundant for a global company who just pulled their whole division out of Australia. It's in a different field but he is of the belief Australians only buy off people who regularly call on them.
Personally, I see this model of sales rep selling decreasing and will become non existent in the future. Young people are wanting very tech / online focussed communication and marketing. They will look online before ringing people and expect high quality online services. If the tech isn't working then companies will undertake Agile processes to fix it quickly so they can stay ahead of the game etc. I see this as the future, I suppose time will tell.
(20min delay)