You collected 200 leads at the exhibition. Now what?

The booth is packed away, your feet hurt, and somewhere between your phone, a notebook and a fishbowl of paper cards sit two hundred people who showed interest in what you sell. This is the moment most exhibitors lose the show. Not at the stand, but in the week after it, when the leads cool faster than anyone expects.

Here is the plan for that week.

When should you follow up after a trade show?

Within 48 hours for your hottest leads, and within one week for everyone else. Research on event follow-up keeps landing on the same uncomfortable number: the majority of exhibition leads never receive any follow-up at all. Which means the bar is low. Simply being the exhibitor who writes first, while the conversation is still fresh in the visitor's mind, puts you ahead of most of the hall.

BNI founder Dr. Ivan Misner, who has spent four decades studying how business relationships form, teaches a rhythm he calls the 24-7-30 system: make contact within 24 hours, connect on social media within 7 days, and arrange a real conversation within 30 days. The exact numbers matter less than the shape: three touches, spread out, each one warmer than the last.

How do you sort a pile of exhibition leads?

Sort by intent, not by company size. Before you write a single message, split the pile into three groups:

1. Ready now. They asked about price, timelines or a demo. These people get a personal message within 48 hours and a proposed next step: a call, a meeting, a quote.
2. Interested, not urgent. They liked the product but have no immediate need. They get a short, personal note this week and go into a nurture rhythm, one useful touch a month.
3. Polite collectors. They tapped everything at every booth. They get one friendly message and a place on your newsletter list, nothing more.

If you captured leads digitally at the stand, this sorting takes minutes, because every lead already has a name, a company, a note and a timestamp. If you came home with paper cards, budget an evening of typing before you can even start. We wrote about fixing the capture side in our exhibition lead capture guide.

What should the first follow-up message say?

Make it about them, not about you. The strongest first message after a show has three parts and fits in four sentences: where you met, something specific from the conversation, and one clear next step. For example: what they told you about their rollout in October, the question they asked about integration, the sample they held. Specificity is the proof that you were listening, and it is the reason your message gets answered while the generic "great to meet you at the expo" blasts get archived.

Send it from a real person's address, with a real signature. If you use TapID, your live profile is already in their phone from the moment they tapped your card, so your face, role and number are one tap away when they read the message.

How do you keep leads warm after the first touch?

Book the next step inside the first conversation, then let a light rhythm carry the rest. The 24-7-30 shape works because each touch has a different job. The first message confirms the relationship. The social connection keeps you quietly visible in their feed. The 30-day conversation is where business actually starts, and by then you are a familiar name rather than a cold sender.

For the leads that are not ready yet, one useful touch a month is enough: a relevant article, a short case story, an invitation. The moment their need becomes real, you want to be the exhibitor they remember.

Does this actually need software?

The system matters more than the software, but the right tools remove the friction. A follow-up plan run from memory dies the first busy week. What makes it stick is having every lead captured with context, sorted by intent, and carrying a reminder for the next touch. That is exactly the job of the lead inbox and follow-up tools in the TapID platform, and the team version gives a whole stand crew one shared pipeline instead of five private phone books.

If your next show is coming up, start with the capture side: a TapID card or Starter coin per team member means every conversation at the stand becomes a saved, sortable lead. Then the week after the show becomes a checklist, not a scramble.

The two hundred people are still interested. Write to them before someone else does.