Recently, I was in a conference with five people who constitute the movers and shakers of a company.

One of them asked me a lot of questions about selling, not because she doesn't know how to do it. In fact, she's quite effective.

Her concern is how can we teach others to do what seems to come so naturally to her?

For instance, how will trainees know when to abandon a prospect that is a long shot to turn into a customer? How will neophytes be able to sound natural, especially if they're using scripts?

My reply was simple: Don't worry; I'm not going hire natural, born salespeople.

There aren't that many of them, and we'd have to pay a ton to make the job attractive to them.

We're going to "make" salespeople; to manufacture them, from raw material, because we must, for the sake of economy and speed.

As a general principle, it is imprudent to try to clone "naturals," because many of them have very bad habits that shouldn't be imitated.

Consider Johnny Cash, the late, great country singer, and a true "natural" in his field. His atonality is legendary, but he was able to break with convention and make it work. He found an appreciative audience for his style, mistakes and all.

But it would be foolish to try to develop the next Johnny Cash.

People would probably pick up his worst habits and not even see his best.

"Made" sellers are selected because they have the capability of following a design created by others; they actually like using a mold, and being molded, while naturals abhor them, and break them at every turn.

A natural resists being guided and managed, and made sellers require it, and often are glad to accept it.

There are other differences, as well.

But natural salespeople have nothing to worry about. They'll always be in demand, if only because they're so rare!

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Watch most of the martial arts movies coming from Hong Kong, and you'll see some unusual hand weapons being deployed.

Some look like striking snakes; others like pecking hens.

Which hand weapons are best?

In my view, we should learn a variety of hand variations, but stick to deploying a just a few simple and solid ones in our training and in combat.

Here are my four favorites:

(1) Closed Fist. There is a reason that many punches employ a closed fist. It is solid, hard, resistant to injury, and it penetrates upon contact with the opponent. The knuckles are the primary striking surface, moving frontally or side to side, but the soft surface, next to the baby finger, can be used as well in a hammering motion.

(2) Tiger's Claw. This is a five-finger deployment, utilizing curled and rigid digits, useful in facial and eye attacks.

(3) Braced Thumb. Make a fist, bring your thumb up beyond and flush with your index finger, and you have an excellent weapon for soft targets, such as eyes, or the temple area.

(4) Eagle's Talon or Crab. This is a three-digit deployment, using the index and middle fingers and the thumb, in opposition to each other. Squeezing these together in an attack on the neck and Adam's apple is efficient because it creates a quick grab and requires very little space for landing in the right spot.

I'm not a big fan of the "shuto," known commonly as a "karate chop." I think it's too easy to damage yourself when using it, especially if you accidentally strike a hard surface of the opponent's body.

For the same reason, I'm reluctant to launch solitary finger strikes. It's way too easy to break an unsupported finger, causing pain and distraction in a critical situation.

Let me know what works for you, and why!

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