How to remember the people you meet, and follow up
You meet someone at an expo, a job site or a school gate. You say "I'll send you something". By the next week you remember there was a conversation but not the name, or what you promised. Most people in small business have lost a good lead this way.
Two different things to capture
A conversation produces two things, and they belong in different places.
- The person: who they are, what they do, how you met, one detail that makes the next conversation easier.
- The follow-up: a task with a date, such as "send Sam the quote by Friday".
Keeping both in one text note is how follow-ups get buried. The person needs to be findable later. The task needs to show up when it is due.
A habit that works
- Log it straight after. Within ten minutes, before the next meeting. A voice note is fastest: name, business, what they need, what you promised.
- Split it. The person goes in your contacts or CRM. The promise goes in your to-do app with a date.
- Review weekly. Scan new contacts and open follow-ups once a week. This is what stops things slipping.
Where it breaks
Step 2. Splitting one spoken note into a contact and a task is small, boring work done at the worst time, usually in the car or between meetings. It is the first step people skip.
What we are testing
Second Brain aims to do the split for you: say "met Sam at the expo, runs a bakery, send him the quote Friday", and it files Sam as a person and the quote as a task. It started as a personal tool and works for one person today. Sending people and tasks into other tools is planned, not live yet. If remembering people is your problem, join the waitlist and tell us what you use now.