The Complete SIAL Paris Exhibitor Follow up Checklist

This checklist covers the 30 days after SIAL Paris 2026, which runs from Saturday 17 to Wednesday 21 October at Paris Nord Villepinte. Day 1 is Thursday 22 October, the first working day after the show closes, and day 30 is Friday 20 November.

Use it as written or copy it into your own task list. Each phase ends with a short “done when” line, so you know when you can move on. For the reasoning behind the plan, read the SIAL Paris 2026 playbook for turning trade show leads into export orders; this page is the working list.

Priority labels used throughout:

Last day of the show: Wednesday 21 October

The doors close at 17:00 and last admission is at 14:00, according to the organiser. The quiet afternoon is your best admin window of the week.

Collect everything

• Gather every business card from every team member, including cards in jacket pockets and bags.
• Collect notebooks, loose sheets and any notes written on the backs of brochures.
• Ask each person to export or forward phone photos of cards, stand notes and WhatsApp chats started during the show.
• Photograph all paper cards front and back, in case originals are lost on the way home.

Record before memory fades

• For each serious conversation, make sure there is a note: product, specification, volume, timing, what you promised, preferred channel.
• Mark each contact A, B, C or X while the person who met them is still on the stand.
• Write the owner’s initials next to every A and B contact.
• List every promise made during the show (prices, samples, certificates, calls) with a due date.

Close the show properly

• Message any A buyer you expected to see again but did not: “Sorry we missed you on the last day; I will send the information tomorrow.”
• Confirm which samples were handed out on the stand and to whom.
• Note any buyer who asked to be contacted only after a given date.

Done when: every contact is in one pile, every serious one has a note, a priority and an owner.

Days 1 and 2: Thursday 22 and Friday 23 October

These are the days buyers are sorting their own contacts. Writing first, with something specific, helps them remember which stand you were.

Get the data into one list

• Enter or import every contact into one spreadsheet or CRM, with the same columns for everyone.
• Tag or label every row with the show name, for example “SIAL Paris 2026”, plus the priority.
• Check for duplicates: the same buyer met by two colleagues, or a buyer already in your database from an earlier show. See what to do with your buyer contacts after SIAL Paris for a full cleaning routine.
• Move X contacts (suppliers, press, competitors, service providers) to a separate list.

First messages

• Send a personal first message to every A lead, referring to your conversation, with your product information link.
• Send the first message to B leads (personalised opening line, standard body).
• Send C leads a thank-you and the product information link only.
• Use the channel each buyer agreed to. If they agreed to WhatsApp on the stand, note that permission against their record.

Promises due this week

• Prepare every quotation you promised, with Incoterm and named port, MOQ, payment terms and a validity date.
• Book courier collection for samples promised to A leads.
• Find and send certificates you promised (for example organic, halal or FSSC 22000), checking the expiry dates first.

The last sentence is different for every buyer, so send this version one to one from your WhatsApp Business app. If you run the day 2 message as a campaign, drop that sentence: campaign templates can only fill in the buyer’s name or business name.

Done when: every A and B lead has received a first message, and every promise has a date on it.

Week 1: to Wednesday 28 October

Keep promises

• Send every promised quotation as a PDF, with a two-line summary in the message body.
• Send sample dispatch details: what was sent, quantity, lot number, courier and tracking number.
• Record the sample date and tracking number against the buyer.
• Answer every reply within one working day, even if only to say when the full answer will come.

Sort and assign

• Re-check priorities now that replies are arriving: some B leads will have become A, some A leads will have gone quiet.
• Confirm each A and B lead has exactly one owner, so no buyer receives two different prices from two colleagues.
• Split owners by market or language if you have several people.

Start the sequence for B leads

• Schedule follow ups for days 8 to 10, 15 to 18 and 28 to 30 (detailed below).
• Remove anyone who has replied from the scheduled messages; from now on they get a conversation, not a sequence.
• Remove anyone who asked not to be contacted, and note it on their record.

Internal

• Brief anyone at the office who did not attend: which buyers to expect calls or emails from.
• Share the list of quotations sent, with validity dates, with whoever handles pricing.

Done when: all promises are kept, every reply has an answer, and the B sequence is scheduled.

Weeks 2 to 4: Thursday 29 October to Thursday 19 November

This phase is about persistence with substance. Each follow up should add something the buyer did not have before: a fact, a document or a direct question. For how many messages are reasonable and when to stop, see how many times to follow up with an international buyer.

Days 8 to 10 (29 to 31 October)

• Send B leads a short follow up with one useful addition: full specification, packing photos, a certificate, a crop or harvest update.
• Ask A leads who received samples whether they arrived and in good condition.
• Ask A leads who received a quotation whether the Incoterm and port suit them, or whether they need another basis.

Days 15 to 18 (5 to 8 November)

• Send B leads a direct, easy-to-answer question, for example “Would a price for one pallet as a trial be useful?”
• For A leads with samples: ask a specific feedback question (size, colour, moisture, taste, packing) rather than “any feedback?”.
• Remind A leads of quotation validity dates that fall in the next week, and offer to hold or update the price.
• Move any buyer who asks for a revised quotation to a new version with a new validity date, and keep the earlier one on file.

Negotiation and orders (as they come)

• Confirm every negotiated change in writing: price, payment terms (TT advance, LC, CAD), packing, label language, delivery window.
• Ask for the buyer’s PO number or reference and check it against your quotation line by line.
• Issue a proforma invoice or order confirmation when the buyer needs it to arrange payment or an import permit.
• Check any LC draft against what you can deliver before the buyer has it issued.

Days 28 to 30 (18 to 20 November)

• Send a last, polite message to B and C leads who have not replied, leaving the door open.
• Do not send a closing message to anyone in an active conversation.

Done when: every A lead has a clear status (in negotiation, ordered, waiting with a date, or lost with a reason) and every B and C lead has had the full sequence or replied.

Day 30 review: Friday 20 November

Block an hour. The aim is to close the books on the first month and set up the next three.

Count

• Total contacts collected, and how many were real buyers (A, B, C) versus X.
• How many buyers replied at least once.
• How many received samples.
• How many received a quotation, and the total quoted volume.
• How many sent a PO, and the value.

Learn

• Write a reason against every lost A lead: price, timing, certification, MOQ, payment terms, no reply. The common causes, and their fixes, are in why exporters lose buyers after international trade shows.
• List questions buyers asked repeatedly that your product information did not answer.
• Note which message got the most replies, and which got none.
• Note what you promised on the stand but could not deliver quickly, and why.

Plan the next 90 days

• Give every open A lead a next action and a date.
• Move B leads who replied but are not ready into a slower update (for example, monthly or at harvest time).
• Set a date in February to review orders traced back to SIAL, since a food buyer’s first order can come months after the show.
• Update your product information with the answers to the repeated questions.
• Write three lines on what to change for the next show, while you still remember.

Done when: every A lead has a dated next step and you have a short written review you can open before the next show.

What to print and what to keep digital

A small set of things work better on paper during the show: the priority table above, the stand note format and the list of promises with due dates. Everything after the show works better in one shared list, so that colleagues see the same status.

The general version of this plan, for any show, is our trade show follow up guide with a 30-day plan.

How to run this checklist in Double Export

Much of the checklist is judgement and conversation. Double Export takes care of the repetitive parts.

• Collect and tag. Import your contacts from a CSV or Excel file, or add them one by one, and tag them “SIAL Paris 2026” plus “A”, “B” or “C”. Duplicate emails and phone numbers are caught, so a buyer already in your database is never overwritten. The trade show lead management page shows the flow.
• Product information. Send a Product Sheet link built from your catalogue, with your Incoterm and port, MOQ and certificates. The view count and last viewed time belong to the sheet, so they tell you about one buyer only when you made that sheet for the buyer and linked it to their record; for your A leads, a linked sheet each is worth the extra minute before you decide on the next follow up.
• Scheduled follow ups. Set the day 2, 8, 15 and 28 messages as a WhatsApp sequence for the “B” tag; it stops automatically for any buyer who replies on WhatsApp, but not for one who replies by email. Or run them as an email sequence from your own Gmail or Google Workspace account; email does not stop on reply, so when a buyer answers on either channel, stop their other sequence by hand from the campaign results. Both channels are described on the WhatsApp and email follow up page.
• Quotations and orders. Create an export order for each quotation; it moves from Quoted to Confirmed when the PO arrives, and the commercial invoice and packing list are raised from it in export order management.

There are no reminders or tasks in Double Export, so keep the promise log and the day 30 review in your calendar. Plans and limits are on the pricing page.