Octave Development | We Raise the Bar

Why Octave

We believe leadership is influence, and every person in the organization can influence, regardless of title. Our depth comes from medtech, but the same principles hold anywhere selling means navigating complex buying committees, technical credibility, and trust.

Octave Development builds commercial training rooted in real field experience, not theory. Everything we teach, we lived: carrying the bag, running districts, leading through change, and winning in the accounts your team is competing in right now. Nothing is adapted from generic corporate training; It is built from the field up.

Most vendors show up, teach a framework, and leave. They do not know your accounts, your committees, or the deal you are actually working. We do something different: we workshop your real deals, in the room, with your team, so every hour you take out of the territory turns into a concrete plan you walk out with.

Real reps. Real deals. Real results.

The Portfolio

One foundation. Five intelligence programs.

Every client starts with Rewired, the foundation. From there, the five intelligence programs build on it: selling, negotiating, presenting, and leading. Every program is built on the importance of emotional intelligence and connection.

Built for medtech commercial teams, from clinical sales reps to capital equipment specialists to the leaders coaching them, and any team that sells through complex, technical buying decisions.

The Foundation

Rewired

Creating a mindset shift for commercial teams, in how they see accounts and handle ambiguity, to how they respond when the plan breaks.

CSI

Clinical Sales Intelligence

Selling rooted in emotional intelligence. Built on the EQ-i 2.0, CSI helps clinical reps sharpen their sales skills and helps well-tenured sales reps bring a stronger clinical selling approach, whether that's opening a new account, driving deeper utilization in one they already own, converting a competitive surgeon, or launching a new product.

CDI

Capital Decision Intelligence

How capital equipment decisions actually get made. Committee dynamics, silent stakeholders, and the real reasons deals stall or slip. CDI also covers why accurate forecasting matters and how to get a stalled evaluation moving again, including training teams on a common forecasting language.

CNI

Commercial Negotiation Intelligence

The negotiation lab. Live scenarios, real deal pressure, and the discipline to hold value through the final mile, whether that's a rep who caves too early or one who over-negotiates and loses the deal.

CLI

Coaching Leadership Intelligence

Coaching, feedback, and situational leadership. Leading across generations, whether that's turning a strong individual performer into a first-time manager or helping a tenured leader learn how to connect with a younger generation of reps. Anchored by an ICF-certified coach.

CPI

Commercial Presentation Intelligence

Presentation skills and storytelling for commercial teams. Great presenters read the room and adjust in real time, whether that is a boardroom, a team meeting, or the highest-stakes setting we know: in front of a surgeon at the scrub sink.

Want the one-pagers or more program info? Email us →

The Approach

Validated insight instead of opinions.

Several of our programs and standalone team sessions are anchored in certified assessments, so coaching conversations start from a shared map instead of a debate.

These programs exist because sales leaders and stakeholders told us exactly what they needed. We built from there, and we can customize any program to your team's specific challenges. Most programs run 1 to 1.5 days, while short-format sessions on EQ-i, CliftonStrengths, and our other assessments can run as brief as 90 minutes. Every format is designed to feel like a workshop: less death by PowerPoint, more action. Delivered in person, virtually, or as a hybrid, whatever fits your team.

And it sticks. Every engagement is built with a follow-through architecture: post-program reinforcement, manager coaching plans, and behavior applied to live deals before the room empties. Training that touches real revenue is training you can measure. That is how development becomes ROI instead of a one-time event.

We also deliver these as half-day team sessions and kickoff workshops, no long program required.

EQ-i 2.0Emotional intelligence under pressure. Trainable, measurable, and central to how deals are won.

Gallup CliftonStrengthsWhat your team already is, made visible. Deployment gets easy when the map is shared.

Working GeniusThe wiring behind the work. Same talent, right deployment.

ICF-Certified CoachingOur coaching programs are anchored by an ICF-certified coach with three decades of quota-carrying leadership behind the credential.

How It Works

From first conversation to a plan your team walks out with.

Discovery conversation

Tell us about your team, your accounts, and what is actually getting in the way.

Program design

We select from the six programs, customize one, or build a multiprogram pathway for your team's invested development.

Workshop delivery

In person, virtual, or hybrid, running anywhere from 90 minutes to 1.5 days.

Follow-through

Post-program reinforcement and manager coaching plans so it sticks, applied to live deals.

Early Feedback

“Everything from the content to the participation dynamic landed well.”

— Senior leader, medtech neuroscience company

Leadership asked to keep the work going, both day-to-day and through additional structured programs.

Let's talk about your team

The Founders

Built by people who did the job.

Two commercial leaders who built this from decades of selling, leading, and training medtech sales teams themselves.

Marisa Burnett

Founder

25+ years leading medtech commercial teams at Medtronic and Hologic across robotics, navigation, imaging, neuro, and spine. President's Club as a rep and a leader. Turned around three underperforming districts, one to #2 in the nation, and drove eight large capital conversions in the Northeast plus one of the largest in the West.

Certified in EQ-i 2.0. 1,000+ sales reps and leaders trained and developed.

Known for turning around underperforming teams, earning trust fast through authentic leadership, and turning that trust into real, measurable results, even in specialties she has never sold.

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Jeff Dortch

President

30+ years at Medtronic and Smith & Nephew across robotics, navigation, imaging, energy, neuro, ENT, and ortho. Three decades over quota as a rep and leader. President's Club with multi-decade leadership tenure. Launched Mazor robotics (an advanced robotic guidance platform) from zero to nine systems in two years.

Certified in EQ-i 2.0, Gallup CliftonStrengths and Working Genius. ICF-certified coach.

Known for closing complex capital deals by blending a disciplined sales process and authentic emotional connection, and developing sales teams to replicate that success.