How to follow up with trade show leads.

I'm not a sales rep. I'm a designer. In early 2026 I built a trade show booth for a client, and the owner asked me a question I couldn't answer: "So what happens to the leads?"

So at the next show, I walked the aisles and asked exhibitors how they handled it. The answers split three ways. An expensive CRM, a notebook, or an app with a contract and a fee for every little thing. And almost everyone told me the same thing about what they wanted: keep it simple.

This guide is the simple version. It's for teams of 1 to 10 reps who work the booth themselves and don't have a marketing department running campaigns behind them.

Follow-up starts at the booth

The easiest follow-up email to write is the one you started during the conversation. Before someone walks away, capture five things:

• Who they are. Name, company, title, email and phone. A photo of their card counts.
• What they need. The problem they described, in their words.
• When they're buying. This quarter, next year, or just looking.
• One personal detail. Where they flew in from, the project they're stuck on, the joke you shared.
• Hot, warm or cold. Your gut call, right then.

That last one matters most. On day three of a show, after a few hundred conversations, you won't remember who was ready to buy.

Sort your leads before you leave

The night of the last day, or on the flight home, go through your list once and sort it.

Sorting takes about ten minutes, and it means your first morning back goes to the people most likely to buy.

Send the first email within 48 hours

Speed beats polish. A short, personal email two days after the show does more than a perfect one two weeks later, because by then they've talked to a hundred other booths and the conversation has blurred together.

A good first email does three things. It reminds them who you are, mentions something from your conversation, and asks for one small next step. Here are two you can steal.

Keep it short enough to read on a phone. If your email needs a scroll bar, it's too long.

Plan three touches over two weeks

One email is rarely enough. Everyone comes home from a show to a full inbox. A simple sequence:

1. Day 1 to 2: the personal email above.
2. Day 5 to 7: a call, or a LinkedIn connection with a short note. A different channel with the same friendly tone.
3. Day 12 to 14: one last email with something useful and an easy out, like "Should I check back next quarter?"

After that, stop chasing and move them to a slower rhythm. No reply after two weeks usually means "not now," not "never."

What to do when they don't reply

• Change the channel. If email didn't land, call. If the call went to voicemail, connect on LinkedIn.
• Make it easy to say yes. Ask a yes or no question instead of asking for a meeting.
• Give them a reason to answer. A price sheet, a short case study, or the answer to the question they asked at the booth.
• Set a reminder. If they said "next spring," put it on your calendar and reach out next spring.

Keep it all in one place

For a small team, the system doesn't need to be fancy. It needs to be one place everyone actually uses. A shared spreadsheet works if everyone updates it. What doesn't work is cards in five laptop bags and notes in five different phones.

Whatever you use, tag every lead with the show it came from. It's the only way to know later which shows paid for themselves. Our free trade show ROI calculator helps with that part.

Your trade show follow-up checklist

This is the workflow I built LazzoLead around. The app scans a business card in about 5 seconds, works with no signal on the show floor, tags each lead to the show, and drafts your first follow-up from your notes. But this plan works with a pen and a spreadsheet too. What matters is doing it fast, and doing it for every lead.

Trade show follow-up FAQ