The real cost of sales and marketing silos—and how to fix them

You know those invisible walls that seem to pop up between sales and marketing? They’re silos, and they’re probably causing more problems than you realize. When your teams aren’t on the same page, leads slip by, conversations pause, and your customers feel the rift. It’s frustrating for everyone. 

But the real damage? It’s to your bottom line. Over half (52.2%) of sales professionals say misalignment between sales and marketing leads directly to lost sales and revenue. 

The good news? These walls aren’t permanent—they can be broken down. All it takes is the right approach to get your teams working together and delivering a better experience for your customers.

In this blog, we look at the effect of silos on growth, how to measure their cost and impact within your company, and finally, how to break them down. 

What are silos, and how do they fracture organizations?

Think of silos as separate worlds within the same company. Sales and marketing might use different tools, track different metrics, or even define success differently. 

For example, say your marketing team generates 500 leads through a webinar—but doesn’t share notes with sales about attendees who asked questions or downloaded resources. 

Your sales team then spends time trying to talk to cold leads instead of those who showed genuine interest (either by attending the webinar or asking questions). 

This leaves both you and your customers confused, overwhelmed, and iffy. Two teams end up doing double the work for half the reward (or lead list). 

Over time, these divides grow wider, and neither team wants to help or support the other. 

Worse, silos can even trickle down to the customer experience, which makes your customer wonder “are we even talking to the same organization?” 

Measurable cost of silos

The biggest kicker? Silos make things harder than they need to be. Leads slip through the cracks, deals take forever to close, and your customers can feel the disconnect. Here’s the ripple effect: 

Missed opportunities

When teams aren’t on the same page, leads get lost in the shuffle. Marketing might focus on bringing in lots of leads, while sales prioritizes only the most qualified ones. Without a clear process for sharing and handling those leads, opportunities slip away.

Slow growth

Silos also slow everything down. For example, a lead might have to go through multiple checks—or worse, get handed back and forth—because teams aren’t synced. 

Imagine that a potential customer asks for a product demo. Marketing passes the lead to sales without any details about what the customer is looking for. So the sales team has to circle back and ask basic questions. This back-and-forth wastes time and ultimately, the lead loses interest. 

This kind of backtracking eats up time and delays your growth.

Inconsistent customer experience

Research shows that while 76% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments, only 54% of customers think that sales, services, and marketing teams share information. 

And when sales and marketing aren’t on the same page, your customers notice. They might get mixed messages or mismatched offers, which annoys them and they take a step back from you. 

How to quantify the impact of silos

Silos are sneaky—you can’t fix them until you know where they’re hiding. Here’s how you can find the weak spots: 

Audit your processes

Start by mapping how sales and marketing work together. You need to align both teams on where leads go after they’re generated to smooth out handoffs.

Ask these questions:

• Are sales and marketing aligned on what makes a lead “qualified”?
• Are tools and data systems integrated, or is everyone using their own solution?
• Do leads transition seamlessly between teams, or is there overlap or confusion?

To get real answers, you can host a joint workshop or interview team members one at a time. You might discover, for example, that marketing sends all leads to sales—even ones that aren’t ready. So ultimately, your reps are overwhelmed and overworked — with nothing to show for it. 

Look at lead conversion rates

This metric shows how many marketing-generated leads actually turn into sales opportunities or deals. If your conversion rate is low, it’s a red flag that something might be off.

For example, imagine marketing runs a campaign that generates 1,000 leads. But without clear communication, sales focuses only on the ones they think are “hot.” This means hundreds of potential customers go uncontacted—without so much as a follow-up email. That’s the price you pay for misalignment. 

Track:

• Total leads generated vs. qualified opportunities: Compare how many leads marketing brings in versus how many sales actually pursue to spot where the gap is. 
• Drop-off points in the sales funnel: Identify where leads lose interest or drop out to see where handoffs between teams might be failing.
• Response time to leads: Measure how quickly your sales team follows up. 

Measure sales cycle length

Unorganized processes slow deals down. Track how long it takes leads to go from first contact to closed deal. If it’s dragging, silos might be causing delays, like qualifying leads over and over.

Track customer churn rates

Silos don’t just hurt sales—they hurt customers. Mixed messages during onboarding or follow-ups frustrate buyers. Keep an eye on churn rates, especially after sales handoffs, and ask departing customers why they’re leaving through exit-intent surveys.

By auditing your processes and digging into these numbers, you’ll see exactly where silos are holding you back—and how to fix them.

Breaking down silos 

Silos between sales and marketing slow everyone down—but they aren’t super technical. Here’s how you can start fixing them from the get-go: Build shared goals and KPIs

Start by setting goals that matter to both your sales and marketing teams. Instead of marketing chasing lead numbers and sales prioritizing deal size, focus on metrics everyone cares about—like how many leads turn into real opportunities or how long it takes to close a deal. 

Both teams will learn to trust each other when everyone is aiming for the same results.

Invest in centralized tools and processes

Silos often pop up because teams aren’t working from the same data. A shared customer relationship management (CRM) tool is one way to fix that—it gives everyone access to the same leads and updates.

Then, layer in Typeform, which collects detailed customer information through interactive forms and sends it directly to your CRM. No messy spreadsheets, no manual uploads—just clear, organized data ready for both teams to access.

‍Pro tip: work from shared dashboards so both teams can weigh in and track progress together, not competitively. 

Create communication loops

When you set up consistent check-ins, you create space for your teams to share insights, solve problems, and keep things running smoothly. Here’s what to focus on during these meetings:

• Lead quality: Let your sales team share which leads are converting, so marketing can see where they might need to tweak their approach.
• Campaign performance: Review what’s working in your campaigns and brainstorm ways to improve the rest.
• Data concerns: Spot and address gaps or inconsistencies in customer data that might be slowing you down.
• Workflow improvements: Talk about any processes that feel clunky or disconnected and find ways to make them flow better.

When you make feedback a regular habit, you build trust, clear up miscommunication, and help everyone stay focused on the same goals. (And your customers will notice the difference!)

How Typeform bridges the divide

When your sales and marketing teams work together, magic happens. Typeform helps you connect your teams by capturing customer insights, integrating with your tools, and creating an experience both teams can rely on. Here’s how:

Typeform turns data collection into a conversation. Instead of boring, static forms, you can use fun quizzes, surveys, and forms that feel human. Customers happily share details about their needs and preferences, and those insights go straight to your CRM. 

Marketing gets the data they need to send over leads sales actually want to follow up on. Everyone wins—and your customers feel like you get them.

Ready to bring your teams closer and create better customer experiences? Start with Typeform!