Always look for a GCF first (this makes the terms smaller and easier to factor)
Look to see if it fits a “special case” (perfect square trinomial, difference between perfect squares)
Look at the second sign in the trinomial, if it is +, then the 2 binomials will have the same sign, if it is - , then the binomials signs will be different. If the signs are the same, they will both be whatever the first sign of the trinomial is.
If “a” =1, and “b” and “c” are one number apart, and “c” is positive, the factors will be (x+c)(x+1)