Whether you’re selling or negotiating or persuading or just trying to make friends, trust is ultimately the foundation of a solid relationship.

I learned the following powerful formula from my sales coach and friend, Steve Parry:

(C + R + I) ÷ PSI = Trust

Where:
C = credibility
R = reliability
I = intimacy
PSI =  perceived self interest

So how do you put numbers to this equation?  You don’t.  The take away lesson is that the PSI, or your perceived self interest (key word “perceived”), is what you need to watch because of the effect it has on trust.  The lower your perceived self interest (PSI), the higher the trust goes up. The higher your PSI, the lower the trust.  As you focus on helping the other person and forget about what you’re going to get, the higher your counterpart’s trust will be.

Do you have any stories where somebody didn’t trust you because you showed too much of your self interest?  Tell me about it!