World Franchising.com:
1. Assessing your personality: Before you pick a franchise to go after, think carefully about the kind of business you want to run and how your personality fits into that. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses as a business manager. Think about everything from your experience to your attitude about work. Then plan out what you want in a franchise based on your personality, from the hours of work to the possibility of relocation.
2. Researching the company: Spend a lot of time on this step, because it is very important. Find out about the profitability of companies you are interested in buying a franchise from. Research their financial details, and find out if they plan on and are able to expand more. Finally, think about what kind of demand is available for their products.
3. Questioning the franchisor: Once you have narrowed down which franchises you are most interested in pursuing, it’s time to get tough with them. Question the companies about how they run their franchises and what kind of policies they have. Find out about franchisees that have gone out of business or quit, and see if you can contact them to get a better picture of whether or not this is a company you will want to work with. Then, ask about current franchisees and call them up or visit them. Find out what they think of the company and how supportive the company is to its franchisees. They should also be able to tell you something about why they picked this company and if its image and quality is up to par.
Other steps here.