The more business you originate, the more time you must spend on taking care of the business. There is no breaking this cycle. This leaves a minimum amount of time to spend on marketing for busy producers. According to Dave Hershman, industry author and trainer, the only real solution is to make sure that every action achieves maximum results through the use of synergy. Maximum synergy refers to the increase in effectiveness of your marketing activities through the linkage of objectives, tools, and targets. Here are seven rules to help increase your marketing effectiveness with maximum synergy marketing:

1. Every marketing activity must achieve two results. The goal is to perform activities that achieve secondary goals whenever possible. Perhaps a direct mail piece can be used to build your customer database as well as generate immediate business. 
2. Anytime you are marketing by yourself, you are wasting synergy. Who would want to market with you? Those who sell a non-competitive product. Examples of partnership-oriented activities are referral relationships, cross-marketing, or joint events such as seminars and trade shows. 
3. Certain targets are more effective than others. Your efforts can be spread too thin if you direct all marketing strategies to all targets. When you attend a settlement, which person at the table can be of more help as you develop your business? Choices should be made based upon potential synergy rather than chance.
4. Certain tools are more effective than others. One example is the difference between cold calling and networking. Cold calling is a tedious and exhausting practice that can lead to results one step at a time. Networking is the process of building layers upon previous efforts. Every successful networking step helps increase your overall effectiveness. With cold calling you start over again with every call.
5. Every action can be made more effective through additional doses of synergy. You can always make your marketing more effective by linking additional goals, targets, tools, and/or synergy partners. Attending a settlement with a gift for the purchaser of a home? What if you made the gift from the Realtor as well? How much extra cost or effort does this take? Yet, the results are significant. 
6. If there is no response mechanism, do not waste your resources. All your marketing efforts must include an irresistible lure back to you. Writing a letter? Include an offer for a free report on how to increase your credit score.
7. If you are not offering something of value to your targets, why bother? Coupons to save money for your services do not constitute value. Your coupons are seen as self-serving tools in the eyes of your targets. To develop your value offering you must think in terms of value to your clients. This will differentiate you from the competition.