You need a target to aim at

Many business people are optimists and have a sunny vision of success two or three years down the line in a new market. But it is critical to have firm financial and volume targets which you think are attainable, even if they are initially finger in the wind jobs! You can always revisit and revise targets in the light of actual performance, but you must have that baseline from which to start.

Without setting targets, you can easily drift into revisionism. You might pick up one or two contracts and think we're getting there but if your initial targets were ten contracts then you're really well short of the pace.

Setting and revising targets is the only way you can work out what your new export business is going to be worth, and what you are going to get out of it all.