What is the best way to get better at sales without getting a full-time job?

There are multiple ways to learn about sales without getting a full time job, although all of them will take some time and resource dedication Read books on sales (and psychology) In your free time start consuming as much sales information as you can.  You can start with books on this list: http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/top-10-sales-books-of-all-time.html/1.  I am personally a fan of Zig Ziglar.  Even if the specific book doesn't match your style, you will be able to glean advice from it.  You will learn how to deal with different situations which is extremely valuable. Read blogs and watch videos http://blog.close.io, http://www.salesgrail.com/ are two that I have found very useful although there are hundreds out there that you can find with a little bit of googling. Work with a donation based non-profits or on political campaigns This is your 'outside-the-box' idea of the day but it works.  I have worked extensively with non-profits and political campaigns in my free time.  Both of these are built on selling your vision to people to get money and support.  Making cold calls for a political campaign or established non-profit is great because they usually have an established strategy that you can learn from and the high volume outreach will serve as a crash course in sales. Record yourself Another successful strategy is to record yourself making pitches - for Iphones, for Ikea, for Kashi, for anything.  Practice pitching different things and then listen to the recordings and critique yourself.  Or, send the recordings (not longer than 90 seconds) to friends and ask for feedback.  Remember, when you are selling you are reaching out to people just like you and your social circle.  So if your friends give you specific feedback, odds are people you might sell to would have the same thoughts. I would also check out some email courses.  My personal favorite is one by Steli Efti: http://close.io/free-sales-course/ Hope this helps! http://justinbgold.com

Read the Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialadini and http://making8.com/how-to-close-sales-effectively . Sales is all about listening, asking the right questions, recognizing users needs and more or less giving them exactly what they asked for without even having to force the sale.

As was mentioned already, educate yourself on the best sales tips/practices out there. It's 2013 and everything you could possibly ever need to learn is on the internet for free, so go do some digging! In the meantime, I recommend checking out this thread on tips for someone with little to no sales experience: http://www.mosaichub.com/open_forum/question/sales-experts-what-is-one-tip-youd-recommend-for-s The highlights include: -Listen to your customer -Know your product -Understand your customer -Research your competitors

Ideally begin with the way you communicate. Try to be religiously convincing when you believe in a certain matter. Start now, and in every conversation you will ever be part of. Take your stand knowingly and actively. That is the best practice. You also need to know that if you don't believe in firm opinions and you're just not that type of a guy, you most certainly aren't going to be a 'great' salesperson. You can learn tricks to that effect, but you won't get to be the real deal. Because people love and listen more to principle centered people, opinionated people. So communicate well, and do believe. Also seize every opportunity to meet new people, new companies, new culture... Etc that enriches your understanding of how people needs differ. No matter what book you read from or what training you attend, a good salesperson will always remain somebody who understands the customers needs best.

I think are good ways to going to listen to other sales people.  Enquire with  similar organizations to your own about purchasing their products and services.  By listening to other people you can judge what right and what is wrong and also how salespeople qualify which will be most important thing.

I would apply to Nordstrom.  They work on commission and although it is retail sales, it will help with your selling techniques!

Try network marketing/direct selling. You can work it part time with very little investment upfront and many of the major players have amazing sales training and personal development programs.