According to the problem-recovery referral effect, which of the following scenarios is statistically most likely to generate a strong word-of-mouth referral for your electrical contracting business?

Nearly 70% of strong customer referrals for an electrical contracting business come from jobs that went perfectly with zero problems.

Match each contractor's approach to handling a project with its most likely outcome on customer perception, according to the problem-recovery referral effect.

While pulling new wire for a kitchen remodel, your apprentice accidentally cracks a custom backsplash tile. To leverage the problem-recovery referral effect, arrange the steps of your response to the customer in the most effective order.

You are analyzing a drop in word-of-mouth referrals and discover your lead electrician has been quietly fixing minor job-site mistakes without notifying the homeowners, believing that maintaining a flawless appearance protects the company's reputation. To correct this counterproductive behavior, you must explain that hiding errors ultimately destroys trust, whereas the immediate ______ of a problem—paired with clear options and an honest impact assessment—actually creates a memorable positive story that drives new referrals.

You are mentoring two electrical contractors who each had a problem arise during a panel upgrade last month. Contractor A discovered a code-compliance issue mid-job, immediately informed the homeowner, explained exactly how it affected the project timeline and cost, and presented two options for resolving it—the homeowner chose one, and the job finished a day late but the customer left a glowing online review and has since referred three neighbors. Contractor B had an identical code-compliance issue on a similar job, quietly resolved it at his own expense without telling the homeowner, and delivered the project on time and on budget—but has received zero referrals from that customer. Based on the problem-recovery referral effect, which evaluation of these two outcomes is most accurate?