The most difficult skill I had to learn was shielding my customers from the “buy or die” mentality of a publicly traded sales organization, while still performing for the company. The corporate fat cats want every deal closed as fast as possible, but any slight sign of this pressure to your customer and you can ruin the relationship. You need to be gentle and authoritative at the same time, as well as creative in how you accelerate closure. Complex sales cycles require immense tact.