The sales lesson behind a $2.5 billion raise

Lee Hayes was in his twenties, sitting across from the CFO of Woolworths, and feeling sure of himself. Macquarie, where he worked, financed technology for big corporates, and Woolworths had just rolled out a new registry system. So Hayes spent the opening of the meeting explaining how broad Macquarie’s expertise was and everything it could do for the grocery giant, fixating on those cash registers.

The CFO shut him down quickly, and fairly. On no planet, he said, did Macquarie know more about cash registers than Woolworths did.

Hayes has never forgotten that meeting, and it remains the lesson that has stuck with him most: understand what matters to the client before you talk about yourself. It is the foundation of how he now leads distribution at MA Financial Asset Management, where the team raised about $90 million from the domestic market in its first year, 2017–18, and more than $2.5 billion last year. It is also exactly why he is the guest to open season three of Capital Conversations.

What is Capital Conversations?

Capital Conversations is the podcast that goes behind the pitch with the people who raise capital in Australia’s wealth and asset management industry.

Hosted by Steve Robertson, each episode focuses on the art of capital raising, with a sprinkling of science, from how leaders hire and build culture to the mistakes that taught them the most. Based on listener feedback, season three leans even further into the art.

Two employers, and a career built on networks

Hayes found his first job in the careers section of the Sydney Morning Herald. At 19, he became employee number 2840 at Macquarie Investment Management as a marketing cadet on $14,000 a year.

Over the next 25 years he moved through marketing, banking, mortgages, credit and corporate asset finance, before a Master of Applied Finance sparked a love of investments. Through the networks he had built at Macquarie, he moved into business development, selling structured products and real assets to advisers and accountants for a decade.

In 2017, he joined MA Financial to build its domestic asset management distribution. The firm’s first year of raising capital in Australia brought in about $90 million. Today, Hayes leads a team of ten that raises billions across private credit, real estate and operating assets such as marinas and pubs.

For Robertson, Hayes’ openness about that early misstep is part of what makes him such a valuable guest on the podcast.

“Lee is refreshingly candid about the Woolworths meeting,” Robertson says. “Most of us have been in a meeting where we talk about ourselves when we should be asking questions. Lee has turned that moment into a philosophy: flip the conversation, get the client talking about their business and what matters to them, and then show how you can help.”

Team first, individual second

The first thing Hayes looks for when hiring is culture. Success, he says, is driven by culture and destroyed by poor culture and hubris. His team runs on a simple principle, team first and individual second, with loose lanes rather than tight ones, so that the best person for a relationship owns it, whatever their remit.

Hayes also looks for what he calls the five Ps: perceptive, persuasive, prying (which he means as curious), persistent and patient. However, his most valued trait is being a connector, the person an adviser rings not about a marina portfolio, but to ask who they should speak to about something else.

Ask Robertson what makes Hayes such an effective capital raiser, and the answer starts with the way he builds his team.

“Capital raising is a team effort,” Robertson says. “It’s not just the person at the front, it’s marketing, it’s the portfolio managers, it’s the entire business. What I admire about Lee is that he says so openly. He makes a point to ensure operations, finance and client service teams get their share of the credit.”

What listeners should take away

Persistence is a theme Hayes returns to repeatedly. The Priority Income Fund, one of MA’s largest private credit funds, launched in 2018 and took a long time to gain traction. Hayes and the team kept talking to advisers and staying on their radar until it was eventually added to platforms, research lists and attracted major wealth allocators.

So what should listeners take away? For Robertson, it comes down to a few simple habits.

“Prepare before you pick up the phone or walk into the room, ask questions and then listen more than you talk, and be persistent, because the best results can take years,” Robertson says.

“Lee is also generous with advice for people starting out. Practise your cold calls with your team, start with a prospect who isn’t the biggest and shiniest on your list, and back yourself earlier than he did, rather than waiting for someone to advance your career.”

Robertson was struck by how much Hayes enjoys what he does. “You can see it in the way he talks about the people and the stories,” he says. “It’s hard to find a job that you absolutely love, and it’s a good reminder that the best capital raisers genuinely enjoy going to work.”

Capital Conversations, featuring Lee Hayes, is available now on the Capital Outcomes website, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.