Don Vaughn is a neuroscientist who works with David Eagleman at Stanford University.
But his method is not about neuroscience, it’s about passing notes to strangers.
Eagleman is the author of “Sum, 40 Tales from the Afterlives.” It is a best seller that has been translated into 33 languages and turned into two operas (Brian Eno and Max Richter).
It’s a good book, and like many good books, nobody wanted it. Eagleman had collected a stack of rejection letters.
People would write back and say, “Hey, I really liked this book, but I have no idea where I would put this in the bookshelf, or I don’t even understand what this thing is.”
They were confused.
That went on for a long time and Eagleman was certain that it was never going see the light of day.
And then finally, Eagleman came up with an idea. There was a particular literary agent that he wanted to speak with, so he figured out three different ways to reach out to her within 48 hours. She would be hearing from three different people in quick succession.
It worked, they talked, and she agreed. Two days later they sold the book to a publisher. It was a long, extended failure and Eagleman just kept banging on that door until it finally opened.
What kept him going?
A series of events took place years before the book was written when Eagleman was working at the Salk Institute.
A 16-year-old kid was visiting during his High School science day and Eagleman gave a talk to the students, discussing his work. One of the kids came up afterward and said, “This is what I want to do. Can I work with you?”
Eagleman said, “Sure, write down your phone number on the dry-erase board.”
The kid wrote it down and the next day, the dry erase board got erased. Eagleman was busy and simply forgot about the kid. But the kid didn’t forget about Eagleman, he left a voicemail saying, “Hey, I’m the kid.”
Eagleman was impressed and thought, “Oh, I’ve got to call this kid back” and then got busy again and forgot. But the kid didn’t forget about Eagleman and had his high school teacher write a letter saying, “Hey, this is just a letter to recommend that kid.”
Then Eagleman got another call.
And another letter.
Eagleman wasn’t annoyed, he wasn’t put off, he was thinking “Wait a minute. I don’t want to miss this kid. This kid’s amazing.” The kid ended up working in Eagleman’s lab and for the last 16 years has been his closest collaborator.
The kid’s name is Don Vaughn. And what he did is called the Don Vaughn method.
The Don Vaughn method targets someone and reaches out to them from different angles in quick succession to make sure that they don’t forget.
Keep in mind, it’s not spam, it’s specific. Don was targeting David Eagleman. David was targeting a specific literary agent.
You can you use the Don Vaughn method too.
Do your homework. Understand your customer. Meet them where they are and provide them with what is useful and relevant.
Over a brief period, reach out to them in a variety of ways.
Like and comment on X, target on LinkedIn, have reference send them an email, share or link back to their blog from yours, or get involved in the same charity.
Call in all the favors at once.
Don was omnichannel marketing himself, without the bells and whistles. And it worked.
He had Eagleman’s permission, and he used it.
This can be done with varying levels of density. Don was heavy-handed, but you can have a lighter touch as well. A targeted advertisement followed by an email, followed by a call. It can almost feel like Deja Vu for the audience. They’ll ask, “Where have I seen this name before?”
Eagleman was impressed because he was busy and couldn’t remember to call Don back. So, when he was trying to get Sum published, he thought, “I’m going to do the Don Vaughn method and I’m going to hit this agent from every angle that I can.”
And it worked.
*David Eagleman shared most of the details of this story on the Tim Ferriss Podcast. Please check out the full podcast and Eagleman’s (terrific) book, Sum.
What do you think?