SEO for Referral-Based Businesses?

When I start to talk to small business owners about the importance of Search Engine Optimization, the first thing I hear from most of them is "I don't need to be found on Search Engines, my business is all generated from referrals." My response to this should be "Of course it is, because you're not getting any exposure anywhere else", but I often take a different approach.

How Referals Are Generated: An Example
Imagine I am at a party, and I become engaged in a conversation with people you don't consider close friends, but mere acquaintances. One of the parties involved asks another about the new deck he had built, by a company called Decks 'R Us. He raves about the service and quality of work, and says that the price was better than a lot of other companies he had quote on the job. Since I am in the market for a new deck, I attempt to get some contact information, but am interrupted before I am able to.

No problem, I think...I'll just find them online. It's Decks Are Us, so it should be www.decksareus.com, right? Or is it .net, .org, .ca? Perhaps it's decksrus.whatever. OK, I think, I can't find it under any of those, so I'll just Google it.

What's In A URL?
Now, imagine you are the proprietor of Decks 'R Us. You've been in business for a long time, but were unable to secure a URL that has your name in it, choosing instead to register as www.abetterdeck.com. Since you have built up a considerable amount of equity in your name, you don't want to change it to A Better Deck...that won't be a problem, right?

It's no problem right up until I type in Decks R' Us in Google, and find a lot of deck companies, but not yours. I may give up looking for you, get interrupted, and someone else might refer a different company. Or worse, I might find another company during that search that looks good, and contact them for a quote. The point is, you're not getting my business. I knew your company name, but still could not find you to contact you. I'm busy...I don't have time to go out of my way to find companies that obviously don't need the business.

Get Busy...Get Ranked
Ranking for your company name or even your given name are important to ALL small business owners, whether your business is 100% referral-generated or not. If you can't be found by someone searching online, you are turning away work, without even knowing it. Your brand is only as strong as the exposure you can generate for it; creating more opportunities to saturate the market with your brand messaging is one of the most important things you can do for your company. The web is a relatively inexpensive place to start.