By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

Follow up in this order. First, anyone who can move a deal now. Second, every intro you promised in the room. Third, the intermediaries who could send you the next deal. Fourth, everyone else. The first group gets a note within 24 hours, the rest inside the 48 hour window or by the end of the week.

You land Sunday night with 30 new contacts, a stack of badges and cards in your bag, and a calendar that starts at 8am Monday. You will not send 30 good follow ups this week. Nobody does.

The order matters more than the wording. Here is how I would run it.

Why the order beats the effort

Thirty contacts is not thirty equal relationships. Illustrative math: if three of the thirty can put a deal in front of you this quarter, those three are worth more than the other twenty seven combined. Treat them the same and you send all thirty the same tired “great meeting you” note on Thursday. That is a week too late for the three that mattered.

The goal for Monday morning is not to clear the list. It is to make sure the right five people heard from you before they heard from anyone else.

If you have not captured the conversations yet, start with how to remember everyone you meet at a conference. This page assumes you know who said what and need to decide who goes first.

Tier one: who can move a deal now

These are the people with something live. The broker taking a business to market in three weeks. The owner who said over dinner he has two offers and likes neither. The lender who told you he has appetite for exactly your check size this quarter. The family office that wants to co invest on your next close.

How to spot them: they mentioned a timeline, a number, or a decision. “Going out after Thanksgiving.” “Closing our fund in January.” “My partner wants out by summer.”

What to send: the specific thing, your fit in one line, one easy next step.

Good talking Thursday. The HVAC business you’re taking out in November is right in our range. Committed capital, we close on what we sign. Want to be on the short list. Call Tuesday?

Send these within 24 hours. Monday breakfast at the latest. A broker building a short list after an event is talking to other buyers the same week, and the ones who wrote first are easier to remember.

Tier two: every intro you promised in the room

This is the tier people skip, and it is the one that costs the most reputation. At a mastermind or deal dinner you say “you two need to meet” four or five times a night. Each one is a promise, and both people heard it.

This is the part of the job I know best. I run matchmaking for two communities and I have facilitated over 1,000 introductions. What I tell people is simple: list every promise before you write anything else. Both names, and why they should meet. Then make the intro inside 48 hours, while both sides still remember the conversation that made it obvious.

What to send: a quick check with the person who asked, then the intro itself.

You said you wanted a lender who does SBA in home services. Still want that? I’ll connect you with Dana tonight.

Once they say yes, send the double opt in intro by email so it can be forwarded. Two lines on why, then get out of the way. The full method is in how to track introductions and referrals.

For a super connector, this tier is the job. A promised intro that never happens is the fastest way to become the person who only talks about connecting people.

Tier three: intermediaries who could send the next deal

Brokers, bankers, M&A lawyers, CPAs, wealth managers. Nothing is live with them today, but they see deals before you do, and they meet dozens of buyers at every event. You want your name in their head the next time a mandate lands.

What to send: something they can use, not a pitch. Your buy box in one line they can forward, or a reaction to something they said.

Enjoyed the panel. Your point on customer concentration killing valuations was spot on. If a client in industrial services wants a quiet first look, we’re $2M to $6M EBITDA and we close.

Send these on day two. They can wait one more day than tier one, but not until next week. For why this group decides your deal flow over the long run, read intermediaries run long cycles and short memories.

Tier four: everyone else

Good people, no deal attached right now. The operator in a different sector. The searcher who is two years from buying. The speaker you liked.

What to send: a short text with one detail from the conversation, so they know you remember them and not just the badge.

Great meeting you at the bar Wednesday. Hope the Austin move goes smooth. Let’s grab a coffee next time I’m in town.

These can go out by Friday. They matter, just not this week. Plenty of tier four becomes tier one in a year, which is why the note still goes out.

The 48 hour window, hour by hour

The night of the last day: sort all 30 into the four tiers. Ten minutes. Draft tier one before you sleep.

Day one morning: send tier one. Then list every promised intro and send the check messages.

Day one evening: make the intros where both sides said yes.

Day two: intermediaries. Any tier two intros still waiting on a reply get a nudge.

Day three to five: everyone else, a few a day between calls.

The deeper case for the window itself is in the 48 hour rule for networking follow up. For the longer game after one event, see the deal origination playbook.

The person you forgot to tier

Every event has one. You had a great five minute conversation, never got a card, and by Tuesday you cannot place them. Or you tiered someone as “everyone else” and they turn out to be the broker with the deal.

That is a capture problem, not a follow up problem. And it compounds. Two events a month at 30 people each is 60 new names a month to sort, on top of the people from last month’s event who never got a second note.

How FRONT OF MIND runs the triage for you

I built FRONT OF MIND because I watched operators meet the right people and then disappear for six months. It starts in the room. With Capture you say the person’s name and a sentence about them out loud, snap their business card or badge, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. Thirty people becomes thirty records with the deal fact attached, not thirty cards in a bag.

After the event, it opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each person comes with a one line reason why today and a drafted text style message, 40 words max, that references what they told you. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. Anyone you let slide comes back on their own: “You met at [event] 9 days ago and haven’t followed up.” The intros you promised show up under Intros to make this week, with dated proof on both sides.

Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them. Export or delete anytime.

Start free with your first 25 contacts, and see which of the 30 from your last event comes up first.

See how it works