Why does rapport still feel forced even though I know the techniques?

You have the moves. The open question, the mirroring, the pause before you answer. And still, in the room, something in you is calculating instead of listening. You feel it. The client probably feels it too. Here is the honest reframe: technique was never going to produce rapport. It can only imitate it. Rapport comes from actually attending to another person — their words, their face, what they are not saying. A technique used to produce that effect, instead of arising from it, will always read as slightly off. People sense performance even when they cannot name it. This is not a solo fix. Your pod can see what you cannot — the exact second you switch from listening to managing. Use them. Have them watch you work and tell you the truth, without softening it.