Questions people ask before they say yes.
What exactly is LENS?
A printed luxury lifestyle quarterly, one hundred and forty pages, with no advertising in it. Remarkable people, places, and pursuits, by professional writers and photographers. It is personalized on the gates, the panels inside the front and back covers, so that it arrives from you.
Is there anything about my industry in it?
No. No market commentary, no advice, no offer, and nothing about what you do for a living. Industry content gets skimmed and recycled. This gets kept, and it gets handed on.
Who writes it?
Professional writers and photographers working under LENS editorial direction. Nobody pays to be in it, because there is no advertising.
How often does it arrive?
Four times a year. December, March, June, and September.
Can my client buy it, or find it somewhere?
No. It is not sold and it is not on newsstands. If they look it up they will find the publication and the standard, and no way to subscribe. The only way to receive it is for somebody to send it. That somebody is you.
What is the response rate?
LENS does not have one, and neither does anything the top of the market has sent its clients for fifty years. What it has is weight. It gets kept, and the person who sent it is the name that comes up.
Is print dead?
Not at the top of the market, where it never left. Departures, the watch houses, and the automobile houses all still print, and none of them are sentimental companies. What died is the middle: the catalogue, the circular, and everything else that arrived asking for something. Those moved to the screen, where they cost nothing to send. A publication that asks for nothing has the opposite problem. People keep it.
Does anyone check their mail anymore?
It does not go in the mailbox. It is too large for that. It ships as a parcel on a USPS service that carries it to the door, and the first issue arrives there in the LENS box. The door is where everything else they ordered arrives.
How long does it stay in the house?
A season, and then the next one arrives and goes on top of it. By the fourth or the eighth it is a collection rather than a delivery, and every copy in it has your name inside.
Is it not easier to send something digital?
Much easier, and that is the problem. The things that are effortless to send are the things nobody keeps. This works because it is plainly expensive, plainly not automated, and impossible to mistake for something sent to a list.
Will they know it came from me?
From the moment the LENS box opens. Your announcement, with your photograph and your name, sits on top of the first issue. Every issue after that carries your photograph, your message, and your name on the gates.
What is on the cover?
A photograph, the wordmark, the issue number, and the collection line. Nothing about you, and nothing that sells. That is why it goes on the table, and why your client is comfortable handing it to someone.
What are the gates?
Panels roughly three inches by eleven that tuck inside the front and back covers. They carry your photograph, your firm and city, a short note about you, your name, and your message. Parchment or charcoal, so they sit with your own brand.
Can I change my message?
Any quarter you like.
Does the recipient have to do anything?
Nothing. They are never asked to sign up, renew, respond, or opt in to anything.
What if an issue does not arrive?
We print it again and ship it, at no cost to you, when the address we had was correct. If the address was wrong or incomplete, we will ship another at cost. An address that fails repeatedly is treated as a bad address and released, the same way a cancelled one is.
What does one sender per household mean?
Every home on your list is yours. No other member can send LENS to that address for as long as you keep sending. The first to claim an address holds it.
Home or office?
Both are addresses, and each is its own claim. If the house is taken, the office may not be, and it is yours if you claim it first.
What if an address I want is already claimed?
Then somebody got there first, and we will tell you so. We will not tell you who. It is the same rule protecting every name on your own list, and the first time it works against you is the first time you know it is real. You can claim that person's other address, or wait; some claims are for a single issue and release when the next list closes. Ask us and we will tell you which.
What about a couple with two advisors?
One household, one sender. Whoever claimed it first. The other advisor can claim an office.
What if a competitor in my market joins after me?
They cannot send LENS to anyone already on your list. Nothing else about their membership affects yours.
When my client hands an issue to a friend, can I send to the friend?
Almost always. That friend's address is nearly always still open, and your client has just told you the friend wants it.
What is the minimum?
Ten recipients, for a first issue or a subscription. From there, as many people as you choose.
What if I only have ten people who really matter?
Then you have your list. Ten is the minimum for a reason: it is the number most people can name without thinking. Anyone you add after that is someone you would like to matter next year, and most lists grow that way on purpose.
Can I add people during the year?
Yes, right up to the day the next list closes.
Who should be on the list?
Your best clients, the prospects you have been patient with, and the people who send you business. In practice the referral sources are often the highest-value names on it.
What do I have to do each quarter?
Nothing. You build your list, and our designers build your gates and your announcement with you once. LENS prints, personalizes, packs, and ships every issue.
How long does setup take?
Your list is the only part that takes thought. For the rest, you sit with one of our designers once: a photograph, your firm details, and a message in your own words, built with you and approved by you.
What if writing the message is the part I am dreading?
Our designers draft it with you from a short conversation. It is easier to edit than to create, and most people change two lines and approve it.
Are there compliance concerns?
There is no industry content, no market commentary, no advice, and no offer inside the publication, so there is nothing in it to review. The only words about your work are the ones you write on your own gate, and those go through whatever process your firm already uses.
How long does a subscription run?
A year, which is four consecutive issues. The term begins with your signed agreement or your first issue, whichever comes later. Your list, your gates, and your message carry across all four.
What happens at the end of the year?
It continues for another four issues unless you tell us otherwise. You cancel from your account, and the request has to reach us thirty days before the deadline for the last issue of your term. Anything else about ending a term is set out in your agreement.
What happens to my recipients if I stop?
They stop receiving LENS. It is not sold and there is no way to subscribe, so the only reason anyone receives it is that a member is sending it. Every issue they already have stays theirs.
What happens to my addresses if I stop?
They are released. Your list comes down and those households become available again, so if you come back later an address may no longer be open.
Can I see one before I commit?
Yes, and we would rather you did. Ask for an issue. We will call you, and then it ships in the LENS box.
Do I have to commit to a year?
No. You can send a single issue, see how it lands, and decide afterward who continues.
When does the first issue ship?
December. The list for it closes on the first of November.