A franchise can provide an additional profit centre for garages, bodyshops and filling stations, and those who become franchisees get training and marketing support to help reach their profit targets.. WHY IS IT that we always emphasise the wrong stuff? During the two years I spent getting an MBA at Stanford in the early 1970s, I crunched a zillion numbers - but I never had 30 seconds worth of counselling about interviewing technique. My subsequent experience as a management consultant confirmed that there are lots of effective number-crunchers but damn few great interviewers - Richard Dimblebys of the business world, you might say. To state the obvious, what good are analytical skills if the information one is analysing is skimpy or misleading? Interviewing can be learned, and it is essential to the success of high-priced consultants and inquisitive managers alike.

I've gleaned the following from 25 years of interviewing and from watching some superb interviewers at work:Don't overschedule This isn't a horse race Three solid, hour-long interviews are a full day's work. If all your senses are tuned in to the person on the other side of the table, you'll be exhausted by a single interview Five? Six? Forget it.Save the Big Cheese for last Don't start by interviewing the chief executive officer. He or she is likely to be impatient, and you don't know a damn thing. Save your most important interviews until you know the lay of the land.Find a comfy nest. The more pleasant, casual and neutral the setting, the better. The worst: Your chair on the far side of your subject's desk. The best: a plain cosy room with a few armchairs, a blackboard, a coffee machine, and a refrigerator with Cokes and tomato juice - but no telephone.Prepare Study your head off.