Teufel also put me in charge of single copy sales which Rodale at the time did none of.Having no idea how single copy sales worked，I went to a conference where Mike Andrews spoke.Mike was a retail consultant who had been the circulation director of The New Yorker and then had launched penthouse in the U.S.
Mike taught me that the retail business was：
·a business of detail
·of finding what works in one town or even one retailer and then aggressively duplicating that success in other towns and in similar retailers.
And in those days with over 400 wholesalers，400 separate experiments in your magazine's distribution，it was almost always possible to find something to build on.While the distribution system has consolidated and changed these principals still hold.
These three people and an amazing group of executives-Pat Corpora，Bob Reinhart，Ed Fones，Barb Newton，Joyce Shirer，Rich Alleger and now Terry Day-and suppliers-especially Bob Castardi at Curtis-reinforced these lessons and taught me many new ones.
Some of the Things I Iearned as a Circulator：
·lessons
·editorial leads
·the importance of positioning
·sell benefits
·substance，quality and leadership sell
·live in a fact based world
·understand that patterns and trends matter
·make numbers pass the common sense test
·too much data is as bad as too little data；act now
·aggressively follow up on success
·pay attention to two major cost centers：circulation expense and production expense
·good ideas can come from anywhere
In our business we are dealing with new media，recent circulation scandals，new ABC rules and circulation categories，and changing reader and advertiser expectations and demands.I'll start by describing the world as I see it.
Magazines Suffer from Troubles of Their Own Making
Because of the poor circulation practices of the recent past-especially the practice of counting unpaid circulation as paid-magazines have a credibility problem with the advertising community.While the creation of the verified category has brought more transparency to the ABC statement，we still spend a stupid amount of time dealing with the past instead of building for the future.
Importance of Advertising Revenue Increases
It is likely that advertising revenue will remain the primary source of revenue for magazines and probable that，for large magazines，it will increase as a percentage of total revenue，especially as we are able to increase our sale of on-line advertising and other kinds of partnerships that our strong brands can bring to advertisers.
Comparability a Necessity
While advertiser's enthusiasm for micro targeting and response based advertising evaluation may wane，the demand for greater comparability between media and accountability for achieving advertising goals will remain or grow.
Demand for Speed
Advertisers will want to buy advertising as late as possible and evaluate effectiveness as soon as possible after an ad runs-the demand for speed will only increase.Magazines will always be at a disadvantage but we must minimize that disadvantage.Sometimes we speak only as a print magazine owner，other times as a multi-media brand owner.In this case print magazines may be at a disadvantage but online magazines brands will not be.
In Face of These Challenges，What is a Consumer Marketer to Do
Distribution and paid circulation are measures that have nothing to do with the effectiveness of an ad.And they are comparable to no other media.Even newspapers are beginning to move to audience measurement and possibly to combinedmeasurement of web and print audience.If we don't change，then magazines will be comparable only to themselves.This will not happen，so prepare to have your work judged on audience size and quality as we have traditionally been focused on paid circulation and distribution.
It will take some time to create accurate，stable，and fast issue by issue audience measurement.But we can deliver transparent distribution data faster with tools we have at hand-verified circulation for transparency and rapid report for speed.
I challenge us all to make distribution completely transparent-to put all sources that leave the possibility of abuse into verified and to report distribution early through rapid report.If we do this we can hopefully regain the confidence of buyers by putting the discussion of value where it belongs-in the negotiation between buyer and seller，and take it away from the ABC board and off the front page of Ad Age.If you really think penny sold distribution has greater value than free public place distribution，argue it in the sales process，but don't keep categories on the ABC statement that allow for abuse and an industry focus on the minutia of distribution and not the effectiveness advertising.
What we don't need is more ABC rules.What we do need is transparency on distribution and faster reporting while concurrently moving to fast audience measurement.
So lets drop the smoke and mirrors and enjoy the process of creating great editorial material that provides a positive environment for advertisers and put it in front of the people who want it and need it in print or digitally or however they want it.
Thank You！！
约翰·格里福林
《国家地理》集团董事长
《我从发行中学到了什么》
发行管理大会及博览会
2007年6月6日
纽约
我以前是个业绩平平的发行人，当时最美的事情莫过于达到了50%的销售率或者85%的续订率。但现在作为《国家地理》杂志的董事长，我又有了一些其他的看法。
我当然有权力规规矩矩地领导这一伟大的品牌，但我一向喜欢发行工作的创造性、明晰度以及细节化。我在发行方面所受的训练已经影响了我对《国家地理》在21世纪发展方向的考虑以及我对自己在美国广播公司和杂志出版商协会董事会中所负责任的看法。
我从发行中学到了什么
1979年被任命为PVN（发行量约为190万册）发行部主任之前，我曾经做过一段时间编辑。虽然在做编辑的同时我也努力使那份杂志的发行量达到了2万册，但是有哪个疯子会愿意雇用一个从未见过电子报表、从未经手过一起直接邮件的人去负责一份发行量达到190万册的杂志的发行工作呢？他就是鲍勃·托佛尔，我三位老师中的一位。
鲍勃教导罗德尔（Rodale）的员工要：
·尊重客户
·尊重同事及竞争对手并向他们学习
·敢想敢干
·勤于尝试，因为唯一令你感到遗憾的尝试正是你没有去尝试的那一个
鲍勃自己就是从发行部主任的位置上升至董事长，所以他很清楚比正规的训练更重要的是精通数学和营销的头脑、尊重客户及品牌的态度以及勇于学习和尝试的热情。