This is the most obvious initial financial question.

You may be required to lease property or equipment from the franchisor. You may have to pay the franchisor a percentage of your annual sales. Those numbers must be cranked into your own equations when you’re trying to figure out if a franchise deal makes sense.

Franchisors may make money by owning their own establishments, by providing services to franchisors, by simply collecting royalty payments or by some other combination. It’s tough to make a blanket statement about whether one model is better than another, but surely you want to know where the franchisor’s own interests lie.

Are you going to be required to purchase certain goods or services from particular vendors and/or from the franchisor? If certain purchases are required, are they going to cost you more than you would otherwise have to pay if there were no restriction on where you could buy them?

Do you have any guarantees that the franchisor isn’t going to sell other franchises or open up its own outlets in your geographic area? If so, how long are those guarantees good for?

The flip side of the previous question: Do you get first dibs on new franchises in or near the same area as your first franchise? Some of the most successful franchisees are those who own multiple outlets in the same area and can develop their own economies of scale.

A good franchise will include solid training and ongoing follow up/mentoring practices. Franchises know their success is based on your success, so they should be proactive in teaching you the business right from the start.

A franchisee that gets out of the business by selling to someone else isn’t necessarily a failure. Indeed, he or she may be selling a successful venture. But you still need some idea of the turnover rate of franchisees.

Another way of looking at the prospects for franchisees is to look at what happens to those who sell their establishments. What did they get for the re-sold franchise relative to what they put into it? Was it a profitable investment, or were they simply looking to get out and cut their losses?

What if you got sick, or had to move quickly for family reasons? Can you sell to anyone, or do you have to deal with the franchisor? Would the company charge you something to sell your franchise or otherwise restrict your ability to pull out of the business?