Banking on KC – Melea McRae of Crux KC
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Melea McRae, the CEO and founder of Crux KC. Melea is the co-chair of the 2023 Go Red for Women Luncheon coming up in May, and she's here to talk with us about the importance of that event in both raising awareness and funds to help in heart disease and stroke in women. She'll also be sharing some insights into her own entrepreneurial journey and how she's continued to grow her marketing firm. Welcome, Melea.
Melea McRae:
Thank you, Kelly. It's a pleasure to be here.
Kelly Scanlon:
First, thank you for your leadership, for stepping forward to host Go Red. That is a huge luncheon. Well, it's national. I don't know if everybody knows that.
Melea McRae:
It is national.
Kelly Scanlon:
It's not just particular to Kansas City, but it's national. But I do think Kansas City is one of the largest events in the country, isn't it?
Melea McRae:
It is. They have a huge following here, supported by the women of Circle of Red, and it's really grown and evolved over the years, and I was really proud to be a part of it this year. I was honored to be asked, and it is a big undertaking, you're right.
Kelly Scanlon:
Is a huge undertaking, but it's, again, a very important cause. Tell us about the prevalence of heart disease and stroke in women. Interestingly, unfortunately interestingly, it's often much more fatal in women too.
Melea McRae:
It is, yeah. So what I didn't know until a few years ago was that cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women. It claims more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. Think about that.
Kelly Scanlon:
I was at...
Melea McRae:
All forms.
Kelly Scanlon:
All forms, yeah.
Melea McRae:
All forms. Yeah. I was at one of their lunches probably, it was a Circle of Red luncheon probably 10 years ago, table of 10 women. There were stickers on the plates of three women at every table, and they asked those three women to stand and they said, you three will have heart disease or a stroke.
Kelly Scanlon:
Really bringing it home.
Melea McRae:
Three out of every 10.
Kelly Scanlon:
Wow.
Melea McRae:
[inaudible 00:02:01] three, essentially. So yeah, that really brought it home for me, and I will say that that prompted me to go get a heart scan done. You can easily do that. The cost is minimal and you can get your baseline checked. Then when I was at the Breakfast in Red a year ago, a dear friend of mine stood up and told her story, and she's very accomplished female leader in our community, and she had the same experience at one of those lunches and went in and had a baseline heart scan done and found out that she did have heart disease and she was going down that path towards having a stroke. I got a little teary hearing her story and I thought, "Okay, I need to be a part of this," because it is preventable if we can educate more women, if we can build more awareness around this, know your numbers go in and get checked, get that pre-screen done, live a healthier lifestyle, exercise more.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right.
Melea McRae:
We all say it, right? We all say that we're going to do that, especially in January every year.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, and from what I've read, it's really minimal. I mean, even walking.
Melea McRae:
Even walking 30 minutes a day.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, exactly.
Melea McRae:
Yeah. It could be as simple as that. Cutting out the bad things in our diet. Sure, everything in moderation. We all like our glass of wine from time to time.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, yes. Absolutely.
Melea McRae:
I think wine can be heart-healthy.
Kelly Scanlon:
I've seen those studies.
Melea McRae:
I've seen those studies. I think I look for those studies, but again, it's in moderation. But yeah, know your numbers, know your blood pressure. Go get your annual physicals, things like that. So yeah, it's really wonderful to be affiliated with an organization like the American Heart Association.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about this year's luncheon. I mentioned that it's in May. Give us more details on that and what attendees can expect when they come to that luncheon.
Melea McRae:
Well, it is fun. You can expect fun.
Kelly Scanlon:
A lot of women to be fun.Of women to
Melea McRae:
A lot of women in red.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay.
Melea McRae:
Yes. So definitely dawn your best red. It's on May 19th, 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM, at the Overland Park Convention Center. There's a buzz to it. When you walk in, you'll hear the buzz immediately. It's wonderful. Networking, comradery, personality auctions, these purse packages.
Kelly Scanlon:
Those are fun.
Melea McRae:
Oh my gosh.
Kelly Scanlon:
I have attended the luncheon in the past and that purse auction is a lot of fun.
Melea McRae:
Yes. But no, it's great. Silent auction for the purse packages and women get really creative. I'm doing a really fun one this year that the Tori Burch bag, a Tori Burch scarf, and then three hours of a wardrobe consultant's time.
Kelly Scanlon:
That will be fun.
Melea McRae:
It's fun, unique packages like that.
Kelly Scanlon:
There are a lot of them. There aren't just a few. There aren't like three or four.
Melea McRae:
No, hundreds.
Kelly Scanlon:
There are hundreds. So lots to choose from there. Where do you still need help? For anyone who's listening that thinks, "You know what? This is something. This hits close to home, I want to get involved." Where can you use help right now? Or just when will tickets be available?
Melea McRae:
Well, tickets are available now. Also, women can still become a member of the Circle of Red organization. It is an elite giving society made up of passionate like-minded women with a personal investment in the fight against heart disease and stroke. We do monthly networking events. So it's a great group to be a part of. You can buy tickets, you can sponsor a table. We're really winding that down over the next few months. Or you can even donate a purse package of your own and just come to the event, attend it, and see the excitement that's in the air and be a part of it.
Kelly Scanlon:
At the very least, if you're not familiar with this, just buy a ticket. Melea, you are not new to major events. The first time I met you, you were the chief marketing officer for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and we all know some of the events, huge events that the Chamber puts on, including the Mr. K award every year for the top 10 small businesses. How did that experience segue into your current business ownership? I mean, what was it that made you take that leap into entrepreneurship? Was it something that gradually built up, or was it something much more impulsive?
Melea McRae:
It was a slow burn, I'll put it that way. It's something that had been percolating in my brain for a while. I really credit my experience at the Chamber to the network that I was able to build in Kansas City, which really probably boosted my confidence. The power of the network, right?
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, yes. Kansas City's great for networking.
Melea McRae:
Kansas City is great for networking. I honestly felt like I got a PhD in networking while I was at the Chamber. You mentioned events. There were probably 300 events per year for 365 days of the year. So I did feel like I got a PhD in networking, but wow, did my network catapult during my tenure at the Chamber. I had the pleasure of meeting with CEOs, business leaders from all walks of life. Because I was in marketing, they would lament to me their marketing woes. They always had the same two complaints. Either they had hired a traditional ad agency that gave them a lot of creative fluff, pretty, but they couldn't really use it...
Kelly Scanlon:
Sure.
Melea McRae:
... to drive their business goals. It didn't align, or they hired that senior-level marketer and maybe got an individual that didn't have the capability of building a strategy for the team. They were a great doer.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely. Yes. They could implement something somebody else had already put together.
Melea McRae:
Yes. Right.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yep.
Melea McRae:
So this started to just germinate in my brain when one particular business leader said to me, "I want to hire you as a fractional CMO for three months. You don't want to work here because we're a bunch of engineers and you'd be bored, but could we hire you and you could assess the team, you could build the strategy, you could put our plan in place and send us on our merry way, and then we'll get you the next gig and the next gig," back to the network of Kansas City and the power of that network. I think that really spoke to me and I thought, "Huh, could I do this? Could I be a fractional CMO?" At the same time, there was a local wonderful ad agency that had been courting me to come stand up a new division for them, focusing more on professional services firms. That really spoke to my entrepreneurial spirit. So I made that leap wonderful agency, but it was the square peg, round hole syndrome.
Kelly Scanlon:
Sure.
Melea McRae:
I was always the client, so I thought like the client. I didn't think the agency, and we just never got in alignment in terms of even when we landed a client, what was that onboarding process like? What was that research process like? I just thought differently. So it did spur me to write a business plan for Crux, and I socialized it with my network.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
A lot of the mentors that were Chamber board members that I had built strong relationships with over the years, and I said, "Okay, I have never done this before. I don't know what I'm doing. Poke holes in it. What am I missing? Do you think this would fly in a market like Kansas City?" I got, "Wow, this is impressive." "This is highly interesting." "This is really a differentiator in the ad agency space." That really launched the concept for me behind becoming the unagency.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes, I was going to ask you to describe that because I've seen Crux described in that way. What do you mean by the unagency?
Melea McRae:
I really consider us a hybrid of your in-house FTEs meets the creative, traditional ad agency where we position ourselves as an in-house team outsourced. Many of our clients will list our client chief marketing officers on their organizational charts. So these are companies that maybe don't need a full-time CMO, but they certainly need the brain trust of a CMO to build that strategy. We have clients that have 70-person marketing teams, and we come in and we do their research, we do their messaging, we do the SEO SEM work, we build their website for them. Again, skillsets they don't have in-house. It's been wonderful just to wrap our arms around these marketing teams and make them stronger, deepen that bench. I think the most visible new client of late has been Charlie Hussle, and they have a wonderful...
Kelly Scanlon:
Congratulations on that.
Melea McRae:
Thank you. Thank you. Chase Macnolte is just an amazing leader. I got to know him through the chamber, through the top 10 celebration...
Kelly Scanlon:
Sure.
Melea McRae:
... the year that they won the Mr. K award.
Kelly Scanlon:
Which by the way, you have now, Crux KC has also been nominated and participated in the Chambers top 10 as well.
Melea McRae:
Twice now.
Kelly Scanlon:
Has it been twice now?
Melea McRae:
Twice.
Kelly Scanlon:
How does that feel to have that turnabout?
Melea McRae:
Yeah, that was a surreal full circle moment for me.
Kelly Scanlon:
I bet.
Melea McRae:
While I was at the Chamber, that was my favorite award, just elevating the brands of these amazing business leaders, entrepreneurs in Kansas City that have built these businesses. I loved hearing those stories. So that would be my favorite event of the year. Then to come full circle to being on that stage, I would listen to these entrepreneurs up there telling their stories, just being fascinated by them, and then I am one of them.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right.
Melea McRae:
So yeah, that was a really special moment for me the first year. The second year, I had a little bit probably more confidence after going through it the year before. I think we're going to try it one more year this year, see how we do.
Kelly Scanlon:
Why not?
Melea McRae:
Why not?
Kelly Scanlon:
You've grown.
Melea McRae:
We have grown.
Kelly Scanlon:
You have grown so rapidly. What, you're up to about 40 employees now?
Melea McRae:
We have close to 50.
Kelly Scanlon:
What do you think has been your secret sauce to that growth?
Melea McRae:
Many, many things. Quite frankly, I consider myself the chief collector of talent. I'm a good salesperson, Kelly, so I can sell somebody on being part of this journey at Crux that we refer to affectionately as a red Ferrari. We are flying fast, we are driving fast. It takes a special kind of person that wants to be a part of that kind of growth. We have been very successful at collecting those individuals to be part of this team, but attracting the talent of [inaudible 00:11:25] Ethan Whitehill, for example...
Kelly Scanlon:
great guy.
Melea McRae:
... who had a very successful agency, Two West, and then his agency was acquired and he went to work for the acquisition company, and then that agency was acquired, and he went to work for that acquisition company agency. So he joined me almost two years ago in the role of President and Chief Creative Officer. So he has elevated our creative team, I mean, next level. I would put ours up against anyone in Kansas City now because of Ethan. Then Leanne Hodson joined the team roughly nine months ago as our Chief Client experience officer. So really focusing on making sure that we're staying the unagency as we grow, and it means that personal touch. It means that we are that extension of their team. It means that they can pick up the phone and call us at any time.
Kelly Scanlon:
What validation of the relationship building that you do to have clients, as you say, often put whoever their contact is on your team as their CMO, on their website, as part of their team? I mean, that's...
Melea McRae:
Extremely validating.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely.
Melea McRae:
Nothing makes me happier. Two things, that, and when an employee says to me, "I've found my place, I've found my people." I always have goosebumps when a new employee says that. We've done a lot of work, Kelly, over the last three years on culture and values and making sure that we're hiring to those values, but more importantly, making sure that we're bringing clients on according to those values too. The clients have to be a good value fit.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, that's very important, especially for,... Well, you've been at it now for a while, but a lot of companies when they're first starting up, anybody who knocks on their door or sends them an email, "You're my client."
Melea McRae:
No. You're desperate for business at that point.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely. So to be able to make sure that your clients fit your culture too is incredibly important, and not something that all businesses consider. One of the things I find interesting too that I'd like you to talk a little bit about is a couple of years ago, you started an accelerator for small businesses.
Melea McRae:
Yes.
Kelly Scanlon:
Why did you do that, and how is it helping you to expand on the Crux KC brand?
Melea McRae:
I launched Crux in 2016. In 2019, Rick Calley, who was on my board of advisors, formerly with Lockton, became a bit of an angel investor himself in Kansas City. Both Rick and I were really tied into that entrepreneurial ecosystem. Part of that started with me at the Chamber when they launched the Big Five initiatives, and making Kansas City America's most entrepreneurial city was one of those initiatives. So I fell headfirst into that one, just a passion around entrepreneurship, and Rick did as well. So Crux was landing a lot of startup clients just because I had broad networks in those communities, and we would get to month six or seven of the engagement and they would be out of money. So you've got a founder that's probably more technical...
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
... maybe more IT-focused, building tech, SaaS-based companies, and they're tinkering with the product, they're engineering mindsets, and they don't understand the importance of building and developing that pipeline just to self sustain because you go through that angel investment money really fast. So these were great founders, great business concepts, and they were either desperately looking for that next funding source or having to fold after we had just invested all of this time and intention in building a brand.
Kelly Scanlon:
But it's such a common story.
Melea McRae:
Yes. Well, 80% of startups fail by year two.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah.
Melea McRae:
We know those statistics. So Rick, being a sales expert in his entire career and me really morphing from marketing to sales in my role as CEO of Crux, decided, "Okay, we have got to help them fix this problem." So we started Crux Accelerate. It's a sister company to Crux, and it was focused on helping these founders build their pipeline. So it was bench strength on the sales side. Launching in 2019, we took this concept to many of our Crux clients. We made money, made a profit that year without really even trying, because we had a built-in customer base.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
Well, then we all know what happened in 2020, and sales just froze.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
So we really took a hiatus for about a year, and then we came back and decided, "Okay," again, I think one of the many reasons Crux has grown, the way we've grown is we listened to our clients and what they need, and then we add that skillset in-house.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah.
Melea McRae:
We did the same thing on the Crux Accelerate side. We went out on a listening tour. What do the clients need? What they really need is sales coaching and leadership development, maybe in a different unsalesy way, back to our unagency.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
So we have been working with some experts in sales to piece together a new curriculum. It's going to be a six-month program, and we're infusing sales techniques with marketing techniques, what we know so well.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right.
Melea McRae:
It really speaks back to what has worked to make Crux so successful, why getting those awards and getting PR is so important, why building your personal brand as a salesperson...
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes, that's a whole 'nother topic that we could talk about.
Melea McRae:
It's so important. Yes. Why the art of networking. I teach classes at Rockhurst on the art of networking, why that is so important. So we're infusing sales EQ and just playbook, sales playbook and KPI development with all of these marketing concepts that we know work. Then we're building it around the data and analytics behind it and doing some one-on-one coaching. So we're actually just getting ready to launch that next month. Pretty excited about it.
Kelly Scanlon:
I find it to be a fascinating concept because you're not only helping those businesses grow and be more successful, but you're developing a client base that's sustainable. I just think that's brilliant. We talked about Go Red for Women, that luncheon, but you're involved in a number of non-profit organizations. You're a board member on several different boards with nonprofits, and what is it that draws you to community service? I think importantly, how do business, philanthropy, and volunteerism intersect for you?
Melea McRae:
Well, I have a grid system that I hold myself accountable to being the CEO at Crux, where I spend 25% of my time on clients, 25% of my time on new business opportunities, 25% of my time on the people, and 25% of my time on the community. So I give it equal footing to all the other quadrants of the grid, if you will, because it's so important as CEO to me to be the face of Crux, to wear the Crux brand in and about in the community in terms of giving back, in terms of writing those checks to events or the board service or volunteering or what have you. We do an annual event that we started four years ago called Crux for a Cause where we give a year of free marketing services for a deserving nonprofit. It's become pretty competitive.
Kelly Scanlon:
I bet it has.
Melea McRae:
We started out with a beta pilot organization that we hand selected, People of All Colors Succeed, and then we opened it up to the community, we marketed it ourselves. So the next year was Casey Shepherd Center. Last year was Canby's Markets, and this year is What if Puppets.
Kelly Scanlon:
What if Puppets. How fun.
Melea McRae:
Which was Mesner Puppets. Yes...
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly.
Melea McRae:
... rebranded. So it's hard to say no to a puppet named Zora that comes into your office and pitches. So we're really hoping that we can add more of those deserving organizations to our roster every year. Maybe we start with a couple next year. Who knows how that will grow and evolve. But it's important to me that the team sees that community service and giving back to the community that has helped us to be so successful is also important to them. So I'm trying to lead by example here and showing them as well through my board service that you have to cut out part of your time throughout the week, throughout the month to give back. It's a great way for them to build their brands in the business community as well. It's a great way to just feel good about giving back.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you've seen Kansas City from all different angles. You've seen it from the chamber side, you've seen it from a small business side in many different ways, nonprofit side. Where do you think Kansas City has the greatest opportunity right now?
Melea McRae:
Oh, Kansas City is on fire right now, my friend.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes, it is.
Melea McRae:
It is just amazing to see the momentum, the pride from the Super Bowl champs, to the parade, to this new airport that we're all gaga over, at the NFL draft, the World Cup. We have actually signed on some new clients that are part of telling that new narrative for Kansas City. What is our brand? I think that Kansas City has always been known as Kansas City Nice...
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
... and Kansas City Humble.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
Melea McRae:
Well, enough of that. We need to be Kansas City Bold. We need to be proud. We need to be loud about it. Not in a braggadocious way, because that's not Kansas City.
Kelly Scanlon:
No.
Melea McRae:
But we have so much going on here. I tell people from outside of our region all the time, "Okay, there are things happening in Kansas City. We have a lot going on." It's like hearkening back to the red Ferrari. We're really taking off right now, and I'm excited about it as a business leader from a talent and recruitment standpoint.
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly.
Melea McRae:
How are we attracting more talent to Kansas City?
Kelly Scanlon:
Like attracts like. When you have all these wonderful things going on, people want to... It's like the bright light.
Melea McRae:
Yes.
Kelly Scanlon:
They're attracted to it.
Melea McRae:
They're following.
Kelly Scanlon:
They want to come be a part of it.
Melea McRae:
Yeah. It's that momentum that's building, and now is the time that I think we really reinvent who we are and what we stand for in Kansas City, and we really take a fresh look at what is Kansas City's brand narrative. I feel like we've got to take a fresh look at that because there is going to be a spotlight, a global spotlight shown on our city in 2026 with that World Cup. So I want to do my part just to make sure that we're ready.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, Melea, we're happy that we have business and civic leaders like you who are working on behalf of the city and making it all that it can be. Thank you very much.
Melea McRae:
Thank you, Kelly.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Melea McRae for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. Melea continues to build a successful business and respected brand in part by giving back to the community. She contributes her own time and treasure to local organizations, and she also has built charitable giving and volunteerism into the Crux KC business model by encouraging Crux associates to be change agents themselves, and by building a platform that elevates entrepreneurs' opportunities for success. In that regard, she mirrors the philosophy of the late Country Club Bank Chairman, Byron Thompson, who believed a bank could not only support the business needs of the community, but also work to better the community itself. It's a principle that continues to guide Country Club Bank into the future. Thanks for tuning in today. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, member FDIC.