Forget the Table of Contents

When you pick up a book at the bookstore, you may look at the table of contents to decide if the information is what you’re looking for. With a $15-$20 book, you can make a buying decision based on a table of contents. A list of 8-12 general topics may be all you need to decide if you want the book. This is NOT the case with your educational manual. Your prospects will NOT buy a $40 or a $50 or a $119 manual on the basis of a list of 8-12 topics. In fact, a table of contents with a few general topics will keep them from buying your materials.

They’ll look at a traditional table of contents and think, “$119 for just this?” or “This is all I get for HOW much? Forget it!”

Value. You have to show value for the investment and your customer has to perceive value. You don’t show value with a table of contents with 8-12 general chapter headings.

You show value by showing your prospects everything they’re going to get—the entire list of ideas, strategies, tips, solutions, benefits.

Think of it this way—instead of a traditional table of contents, use an index and stick it up front. Break your material down into the largest list of the smallest pieces of information and show the list—instead of a table of contents.

You are constantly trying to differentiate your manual from a traditional book, so don’t even call it a table of contents. Call it merely a “Contents” page or “Secrets to _____.”

I don’t even like to call my manual sections “chapters,” because that sounds too much like a book. No one is going to believe that your manual has 77 chapters but they want your manual that has 77 strategies!

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