Octave: Generative GTM & the End of Spray and Pray

Save your thoughts and prayers for your next product release or your favorite college team. 

I am not one to “impress” easily with a tool and have been cautiously optimistic around anything focused on AI content…because until AI can get hands/fingers right, I am not sure I want to trust what it might write in an outbound email :-)

A very trusted colleague told me to take a look at Octave, so I did what most do— booked a demo several weeks out and contemplated “do I really have time for this” prior to the call. In order to see what I was getting myself into, ten minutes before the call I started a free trial and that is when things got interesting. 

So what is this thing? 

We all know this situation: You've got your GTM strategy living in some Google Doc that nobody's opened since last quarter, templates that are about as personalized as a fortune cookie, and sales reps playing whack-a-mole with your messaging. Sound familiar? That's exactly what Octave is here to fix.

Octave is your super-organized friend who: 

• Actually remembers what your product does (and why it matters)
• Knows how to talk to different people without sounding like a robot
• Helps you figure out why some messages work and others flop
• Makes personalization actually personal (shocking, I know)

The "Oh Thank Goodness" Features

Instead of letting your carefully crafted GTM strategy collect digital dust, Octave turns it into something your team can actually use. It tracks:

• Solutions (you know, what you actually sell)
• Differentiators (why anyone should care)
• Personas (who's buying)
• Value props (why they're buying)
• All that good stuff that usually gets lost in the sauce
• ICP-driven Playbooks 

One of the biggest “thank you” moments - the ability to actually keep all of these things straight. It’s so easy to end up tripping over each other when discussing GTM Strategy. Octave’s approach infuses simplicity into the way they present the different parts of YOUR strategy.

The Addicting Onboarding

We were very impressed with the user experience right away. Instead of landing on a blank page and feeling confused, users are guided through creating their product and training the robot as the first step. The pagination is great and you feel a huge sense of accomplishment as you see your value props come to life on the page. Nothing makes you want to exit their onboarding, which is rare. As a result, users are getting to the coveted Ah-Ha moment very quickly with this tool. 

More Setup Info:

• Works with Google Workspace (because of course it does)
• Tons of integrations (Salesforce, Hubspot, Outreach, Clay, SmartLead, and many more) 
• Free trial (no sneaky credit card grab) - Just try it! 
• Actually pretty quick to get going (I received value in the first 10 minutes) 
  • PS: Mallory could even figure it out, which is saying something :-) — but she needed 45 mins 

Personalization that Doesn’t Suck

Let's be honest - adding someone's company name to a template isn't personalization, it's mail merge. And generically citing my last LinkedIn post isn’t going to spark confidence in what you are selling.  Octave gets this and helps you:

• Match actual pain points to actual solutions
• Figure out who you're talking to (beyond just their title)
• Say things that matter to them specifically
• Not sound like every other sales email in their inbox

Real Talk about Money

They've got a free trial (proof it is not snake oil), they also have pricing on their website, but with anything credit based, it is probably a good call to talk to their team to build a plan that works for your business. But here's the thing - if you're serious about outbound, you're probably already wasting money on tools that aren't fixing the real problem.

Areas of Opportunity 

While Octave nails the core problem of making outbound messaging and GTM strategy actionable, there's room to grow into a more comprehensive platform. The good news? Most of these opportunities build on an already solid foundation rather than fixing fundamental flaws.

• Better Exports: The design is great - so Octave should let users show it off. Their v1 of exporting allows you to put everything into a Google Doc, which helps, but I have a feeling everyone will be taking screenshots of their playbooks instead.
• Multi-channel engagements: Right now Octave is focused on building email sequences and messaging but being able to expand into phone and SMS would further drive the omni-channel prospecting motion. 
• Call recording integrations: Being able to continue to feed in more content sources, including call recording to better build personas, value props and messaging. 
• User Permissions and Profiles:  Additional customization and permissioning for users from admins to content to executors will help control access and outcomes. 
• More prescriptive and advanced analytics: This sounds like it is coming, but just continuing to build out the insights provided on performance and recommendations.
• Non-credit based pricing models: Man, I hate credits, so would love to see a way that does not use a credit based model to really manage this at scale.  

Bottom Line: Should You Care?

If you're still reading this, you probably should. Here's why:

1. Outbound is hard enough without fighting your tools
2. Your GTM strategy deserves better than a Google Doc graveyard
3. Your team needs something that actually helps them personalize at scale
4. You're probably tired of throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks

Think of Octave as your outbound's personal trainer. It won't do the work for you, but it'll make sure the work you do actually gets results. In this case, the personal trainer is able to act as a McKinsey-esque consultant sitting next to your rep, coaching them on how to weave together personas, pain points, value props, and effective positioning. 

The TL;DR

Octave makes outbound suck less by making your GTM strategy clear and organized, actually useful, and helping your team personalize messages without losing their souls or their minds. If you're tired of your outbound feeling like shouting into the void, give it a shot. Worst case? You used a free trial. Best case? Your outbound finally starts working.