A supply chain manager at a food manufacturer in Mississauga needs a new carrier for refrigerated loads to Montreal. An e-commerce brand that just outgrew its unit in Vaughan needs third-party warehousing and fulfillment before the holiday peak. An importer with containers landing in Vancouver needs someone to handle the rail leg and final-mile delivery across the GTA. Each one searches, compares a handful of companies, and calls the one that looks like it knows the job.
If you run a logistics, trucking or warehousing company in Toronto, those recurring contracts are the ones that keep trucks moving and racking full. You may be weighing a visibility contract so that you are the company those buyers find. Before signing for twelve months, here are eight questions to put to any provider, and how to read their answers.
Why ask before you sign
Visibility contracts are sold with attractive words: growth, leads, online presence. But you are committing real money for a full year. In your business, nobody hands over a load without knowing the route, the transit time and the insurance. Treat your visibility the same way: the answers to a few concrete questions will tell you who is serious.
It pays to prepare before the meeting. Write down the three or four kinds of contract you most want to grow, such as dedicated lanes to Quebec, cross-border runs into the US, contract warehousing or same-day delivery across the GTA, and the profile of the shippers behind them. You will quickly see whether the person across the table engages with that, or runs through the same presentation they give to a dentist or a restaurant. A provider who asks about your fleet, your capacity and the freight you actually want to haul is already thinking about the right buyers.
Questions about the outcome
1. Which customers will you help me win?
A good answer talks about your shippers: manufacturers, importers, retailers, e-commerce brands, distributors with recurring freight. It distinguishes LTL from full truckload, cross-border lanes from local delivery, warehousing from fulfillment. A poor answer talks about visitors without ever saying who they are.
2. How will I know it is working?
Insist on dated reports on a fixed schedule and, above all, on access to results in your own Google tools. A provider who keeps the numbers to themselves is asking you to take their word for it.
3. What happens at three months?
An early measured review is essential. It lets you check the trajectory without waiting until the end of the year.
Questions about the commitment
4. Why twelve months?
The honest answer is that visibility builds gradually and then accelerates, with the early months laying the groundwork. If the only explanation is that it is the rule, be careful.
5. What does the first year cost, all in?
Ask for setup, monthly fees and any extras added together. With Traffic Engine, for example, Momentum at CA$2,850 a month plus a CA$2,250 one-time setup comes to CA$36,450 for the first year, with nothing added on top.
6. What happens if you miss a deadline?
You know all about late-delivery penalties in your own contracts. Your visibility provider should offer something similar: a concrete remedy if what was agreed is not live on time.
Questions about competitors and ownership
7. How many Toronto logistics companies do you work with?
The GTA logistics market is crowded, and shippers check the same names. A provider serving all of your competitors cannot fight for any of them. Ask for a clear cap per sector and per area.
8. Who owns my accounts and results?
The answer must be: you do. If you switch provider, you keep your website, your Google accounts and your history.
Answers that should worry you
- A promised top position on Google: nobody controls that decision.
- A guaranteed number of new contracts.
- A refusal to describe what is delivered each month.
- Results visible only in the provider's own reports.
- No cap on how many competitors they take on.
Our general list of questions before signing a visibility contract complements these eight. To see what waiting costs, read the cost of being invisible for a logistics company.
One last point: listen to how a provider talks about time. Logistics buyers often switch carriers around contract renewals or ahead of peak season, so the moment you need to be visible is rarely the moment you sign. A good partner will explain how your presence is expected to build over the year and what you should see at each review, rather than promising a sudden surge of quote requests next month.
How Traffic Engine answers them
Traffic Engine is Kolonell's service for making your company visible when shippers search for a carrier or a logistics partner, on Google and in AI assistant answers. All eight questions have a written answer. You start with a Visibility Audit at CA$1,050, delivered within 48 working hours and deducted from the setup if you begin within 30 days. Plans: Presence at CA$1,650, Momentum at CA$2,850, Flood at CA$5,200 a month. A 12-month commitment, a measured review at three months, a dated report every week, results in your own Search Console, and the next month free if delivery slips. Each sector is capped at 3 seats per area, with an exclusive plan while a sector is still empty. See the offer and the seats still open for Toronto logistics.
Before your next sales meeting
Print these eight questions and put them to every provider. Write down the answers. To get a realistic picture of the trajectory once you have signed, read what a logistics company can expect at 3, 6 and 12 months, then try the free website score.