Why do we have small talk at the beginning of a work meeting with a client? It has been proven that finding commonalities at the beginning of a relationship will increase your ability to be trusted. We have a friend, sport, passion in common for example. Another technique to build rapport is body language: - having the same posture with your client - using the same tone - using the same key words. If you can listen to key words they uses, make sure you reuse the exact same words - reframing when they stop talking before presenting your new idea / asking a new question.