American Express , BellSouth, Boise, Disney, and Hilton are the brand heritage of Lawrence Hefler, founder of Hefler International. Hefler has over 20 years of experience in the art and science of branding, marketing, and customer relationships. He has enjoyed leadership roles during his Fortune 500 journey, but now, on the cusp of the timeshare industry's fifth decade, Hefler is poised and ready to help transform the face of the industry for the next generation. He stated, "The timeshare vacation ownership industry will experience a plethora of changes in the years ahead and it's my mission to be a perpetrator of these changes."
The Hefler brand saga started at the powerhouse of consumer brands, American Express Company, as a marketing manager in New York. It was here that his passion for brand marketing took hold and he was soon recognized as an innate marketing talent for travel-related services and card products, becoming the company's first western region marketing manager in San Francisco.
His penchant for change landed Hefler at BellSouth Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia, where in his first year he optimized the small business customer base of one million across 500 markets for The Real Yellow Pages by designing and launching cutting edge, direct marketing programs.
After three years at BellSouth , Hefler was tapped to an even more complex role and accepted a database marketing position at Chicago-based Boise Cascade (now Office Max ), an international paper and office supplies company. Hefler lead the design of a state-of-the-art database and Internet marketing strategy, delivering a 25 percent increase in product sales.
Hefler's reputation was building as an early practitioner of Internet technology, which piqued the interest of the Walt Disney Company . As senior manager of e-business and integrated marketing, Hefler launched one of the first direct e-business solutions for Disney Vacation Development and other niche brands of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, in Orlando, Florida. Disney , the “brand-king” of customer relationships, challenged Hefler to develop a customer-centric program that would combine the Internet, direct mail, and telemarketing programs into an integrated revenue source. Disney was not disappointed; e-business-driven revenue increased by 200 percent while direct response rates improved by 30 percent. “This was a huge undertaking as we had to stay within the brand guidelines mandated by Disney in regard to customer relationships while integrating e-solutions into the mix,” Hefler said. His new e-business platform eventually developed into a full-fledged e-organization.
Hefler's marketing successes at Disney spread like wildfire in the marketing world and soon he was being courted by other Fortune 500 companies. One stood far above the others as it offered a new executive marketing position over a rapidly growing, multi-million dollar subsidiary with locations in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. Hefler accepted the offer from Hilton Hotels , as vice president of brand marketing for Hilton Grand Vacations Company (HGVC). Brand integration played a huge role in his new position and enabled HGVC to enjoy double-digit sales growth year after year. Again, his knowledge of e-business, coupled with affinity relationships and strategic alliances led to the expansion of the HGVC database from one million to more than 30 million households. This allowed for a 100 percent revenue increase from a newly launched telesales channel. In addition, his decision to champion multi media and interactive programs dramatically impacted lead generation and conversions.
Today, Hefler is ready to face the challenges of a new era in the timeshare industry and share his well-earned knowledge either as a keynote speaker or as an on-site partner, assisting companies in the timeshare vacation ownership, fractional ownership, and condo-hotel spaces to implement emerging strategies that increase customer acquisition, reduce marketing and sales costs, and build brand value. As an independent consultant, Hefler is also poised to act as a catalyst for innovation, lead a marketing team, or help to develop a new business model that will change the rules of the game and redefine the marketplace for shared ownership in travel and leisure.
Hefler resides in Orlando, Florida with his three children. When he is not traveling the globe discovering new timeshare opportunities, he takes the time to digitally capture the world around him as he pursues his passion as an accomplished photographer.
