Write a market-entry memo your leadership team can decide on

Start with one decision

Write the question as a decision about a market, route and next commitment. “Should we test this product with one importer in this market before committing to regional inventory?” gives the team a narrower task than “How do we expand?” Name the decision maker, the date and the authority requested. Explain what approving the memo would permit your team to spend or promise.

Compare credible routes

Include the strongest realistic alternative and the option to wait. For each route, describe how customers would buy, who would deliver, how much must be committed before the first revenue and which dependency could delay the milestone. Compare routes against the same buyer, time horizon and service promise. If a route only works after a significant change in product or support, make that dependency visible.

Separate buyer interest from buying evidence

The fictional sample distinguishes conversations, sample requests and quote requests. Use similar distinctions when recording real buyer conversations. Capture the buyer type, date, purchasing step, stated criteria and evidence of action. A quote request may justify more investigation. An approved purchase order is a different signal. Include contradictory feedback so the decision maker can tell which assumptions remain exposed.

• Label each claim as observed, quoted, estimated or unknown. Note the source and date.
• State what would change your interpretation. For example, test whether a buyer with budget can accept the proposed price and service terms.

Tie economics to sources and scenarios

Build an order-level view of price, margin, delivery, support and collection timing. Separate quotes from estimates. Compare the base case with a credible downside and show which variable changes the recommendation. Country Commercial Guides and Access2Markets can orient initial research. Replace generic benchmarks with comparable buyer evidence and actual provider quotes as soon as you can.

Set a gate that leads somewhere

Finish with a recommendation, a spending or commitment limit, a named owner and the next review date. Define what evidence permits progression and what triggers a smaller test, different route or pause. Record the alternative path for each material failure. Keep specialist determinations in their own workstream with explicit sign-off requirements.

Reserve a line for what the team would learn even if it pauses. For instance, a buyer may have confirmed that local returns matter while leaving price acceptance open. Preserve the first fact and write a specific question for the second. This gives the next review a starting point and lets management avoid commissioning the same work twice.

• Ask someone outside the project to read the memo and state what is approved, what remains open and who decides next.
• After approval, preserve the decision version and replace assumptions only when new evidence arrives. Log material changes for the next review.