Battery World Townsville: Owner Greg Leslie travels ‘extra mile’ for customers

Well-liked Townsville businessman Greg Leslie knows all about going the ‘extra mile’ for his customers – even if it means travelling 1400km to personally deliver a car battery.

Battery World Townsville, Greg Leslie is celebrating 20 years in business. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Well-liked Townsville businessman Greg Leslie knows all about going the ‘extra mile’ for his customers – even if it means travelling 1400km to personally deliver a car battery.

Celebrating 20 years as owner of Australia’s most successful Battery World franchise, Mr Leslie was profuse in his praise for his employees but eventually admitted that he led from the front in times of crisis.

“Money just does not come into keeping a customer happy; you have problems in business all the time and how you conduct yourself in those moments is what really cements your relationships with your clients – anyone can sell a product but if you have a problem, what do you do?”

He said the 1400km round-trip to a cattle property west of Richmond to deliver a battery for a Nissan Navara was the result of a mistake the business had made about five years ago.

“We sent the wrong battery and he was going to have to wait a week till we got the right one out to him and that wasn’t just good enough so I jumped in the car and drove the correct battery out to him,” he said.

“But that’s what you do, if you make a mistake, you fix it as soon as you possibly can.”

In another example of going above and beyond, Mr Leslie said he was in his finest early 90s clothing at his cousin’s buck’s party at the Crown Hotel on Palmer Street when he received a call from a mechanic with a large freight company who needed after-hours help with a broken-down truck.

“He drove to the party, picked me up, drove me out to the job – I was looking pretty impressive – fixed it pretty quickly, drove me back to the party … but everyone had moved on so I just went home,” he laughed.

“But that one phone call has turned into about $20 million worth of sales, just from being available.”

Battery World Townsville, Greg Leslie is celebrating 20 years in business. Picture: Shae Beplate.

Mr Leslie said he had no plans on retiring.

“I can keep doing this for a long time, the (10) staff really have taken a lot of load off me, they are very supportive of my dream of a 10 handicap,” he said.

“I’m actually sitting at the golf club at the moment about to go on the driving range – nah, I’m not, I’m actually going to look at a truck.”

The good-natured, affable business owner struck a more serious tone when asked about the complexities of his business.

“It’s never boring, we serve about more than 2000 customers a month so it’s always different, always interesting, very rewarding and it really is great watching the staff grow,” he said.

“They do act like business owners, they do take it personally and it’s fantastic to see them worry about how well we are doing and if we are treating the customers as best as we possibly can,” he said.

“I’m very, very proud of them because they are just fantastic.”

Born in bred in Townsville, the former Ignatius Park College married his childhood sweetheart from St Margaret Mary’s College, Sonya, Mr Leslie is a father of five, including 19-year-old triplets, two of whom had severe autism.

“Having triplets was pretty mind-blowing and then finding out about (autism) and then dealing with that has been (challenging), it has been a different life.”

Mr Leslie’s work background in just as colourful as his personality, starting his career as an auto electrician before working for a drilling and blasting company in the mining industry and then opening Leslie’s Auto Electrical in Pilkington St, Garbutt, which he only sold as a going concern five years ago.

Mr Leslie purchased Battery World – Australia’s leading battery retailer with more than 25 years in operations and more than 100 stores nationwide – in Townsville in 2025, quickly turning around its fortunes.

“It’s been brilliant because of the staff and Townsville is a sensational place to have a business, they are very supportive of local businesses,” he said.

“When we took over the store it had been closed for four months … that was in June 2005 and by March 2007 it was the highest-grossing store in the network and it still is.”

Originally published as Battery World Townsville: Owner Greg Leslie travels ‘extra mile’ for customers