Edit wiki/not-following-up-within-48-hours.md — Rookie Mistakes & Gotchas

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# not following up within 48 hours

*(common gotcha)*

## what happened

met great people at the event, exchanged info, then never reached out. by the time you remember, it's been two weeks and the connection is cold.

## why it's a gotcha

the window for a warm follow-up is about 48 hours. after that, you're just another name in their contacts with no context. the energy from the event fades fast, and so does their memory of you.

## the fix

send a short message within 24-48 hours. reference something specific from your conversation. "hey, great meeting you at [event] — loved your point about [specific thing]." that's it. short, specific, timely. don't pitch them on anything in the first message — that's [[networking-as-extraction]]. you can't follow up without the contact, which is why you [[get-contacts-immediately|get it on the spot]]. and if you [[record-conversations|recorded the conversation]], you can reference specifics that make the follow-up feel personal.