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Trade show follow-up: what to do in the 48 hours after a show
You're home from the show with a pocket full of business cards and a fuzzy memory of who loved what. Here's a simple plan for the next 48 hours: capture, sort, check, draft, send. AI does the typing. You do the checking and the sending.
- Why 48 hours
- During the show: two things per chat
- Each evening: build your lead sheet
- Check every email against the card
- Draft the follow-ups
- Send them yourself
Why 48 hours
Buyers meet a lot of brands at a show, and memories fade fast. Our rule: every conversation gets a personal note within 48 hours of the show.
That's earlier than buyers expect. Buyers Lunr Capital spoke with said "a one-week follow-up window feels right" (Lunr Capital). Forty-eight hours puts you comfortably early, while your chat is still fresh for both of you.
It should also come from you. As one buyer told Lunr: "If I talked to someone at the show, I want to hear from that person in the follow-up. Otherwise, it feels like a cold handoff" (Lunr Capital).
During the show: two things per chat
- Snap the card, front and back if they wrote on it.
- Record a 20-second voice note right after: who, what they liked, what they asked for, and what you promised.
A voice note might sound like: "Dana, [store], [town]. Loved the striped crew in oat. Wants a sample in size M. Call after the 15th."
Each evening: build your lead sheet
Use ChatGPT, Claude or Grok Bot (any version that can read photos). Upload that day's card photos and voice notes, or their transcripts, and paste:
Turn these card photos and voice notes into a lead table: name, store, city, email (from the card only), what they liked, sample requested Y/N, next step, heat 1 to 3.
Heat: 3 = asked for samples or an order; 2 = interested, but later (e.g. "maybe spring"); 1 = browsing or no clear interest. Always fill heat using these rules.
For other fields, if it isn't on the card or in my notes, leave it blank. Don't guess emails. List any card you couldn't read at the bottom.
Heat is just a simple way to know who to write to first:
| Heat | What it means | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Asked for samples or an order | A note that suggests a next step: a call, samples or an order |
| 2 | Interested, but later ("maybe spring") | A warm thank-you and your line sheet |
| 1 | Browsing, no clear interest | A short, light thank-you |
Check every email against the card
Letter for letter. Card photos are where AI slips most: 0 and O, 1 and l, a smudged dot. A blank is fine. A guess is not, because a guessed email bounces or reaches the wrong person.
- Hold the photo next to the table and check every name and email.
- For cards it couldn't read, look up the store's own website and find the contact yourself.
- Copy any sample requests into your samples list the same day, so nothing ships late.
Draft the follow-ups (within 48 hours)
For each lead, draft a short follow-up that mentions what we talked about, using only my notes. Include my line sheet link: [link]. Heat 3: suggest a call, samples, or an order. Heat 1 to 2: a light thank-you.
Rules: no prices, terms, or show specials I didn't give you. No selling claims I didn't give you ("best seller", "selling fast", "customers love"). If my notes don't say what they liked, write "MISSING: what they liked" instead of guessing.
Read each draft against your notes. If it says they "loved the whole collection" and your note says one sweater, fix it. Specific and true beats warm and vague.
Send them yourself
Edit and send each note from your own inbox, one at a time. Never set up auto-send. Then mark the date in your tracker, so the people who don't reply get a friendly follow-up about a week later.
"Ottermoss Knits," an invented two-person knitwear label, did its first regional market. Over three days the founder photographed 38 cards and recorded 24 voice notes. Each night she ran the lead sheet prompt. Two cards were too blurry, so she found those buyers on their store websites herself. Eleven leads were heat 3. The first round of drafts told one buyer the pieces were "already a hit with our stockists." She had never said that, so it came out. Every follow-up was out within 48 hours, sent by her. (Numbers are invented for the example.)
Mistakes to avoid
- Waiting until "things calm down." They won't. Block two hours the day after the show.
- Trusting AI with emails. Only use emails copied from the card, and check them by eye.
- Promises you didn't make. Don't let a draft offer show pricing, free shipping or a deadline you never set.
- The same note to everyone. Mention what you actually talked about.
- Forgetting privacy. Card photos are personal information. Use an AI plan or setting where your chats aren't used to train the model.
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