Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s often said. Imitation is also the key to effective sales strategies. Sales people become great by analyzing the techniques, traits and innovations of the masters. At the pinnacle are the GOATs — the sales legends who are widely viewed as the Greatest Of All Time. There are many lists of these stand-out sales icons, and recently CRM software developer Pipeline shared one of the most intriguing compilations. The roster includes a creative mind well known to anyone who has ever sold, shipped or written copy for a direct marketing or advertising firm: David Ogilvy. He began his career at street-level, selling stoves door to door. It wasn’t just instinct or intuition that made him a success. He understood the importance of cultivating the prospective customer, and realized that a hard sell could be counterproductive. His approach was so effective, and so well anchored in a broad understanding of human nature, that he wrote a sales manual ba...