0:00 / 0:00
Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “Live at Drive for #DC20” feat. Alison Boutillette

Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “Live at Drive for #DC20” feat. Alison Boutillette

Car Guy Coffee May 21, 2024 17 min
0:00
0:00
Immersive Mode

About this episode

Alison Boutillette shares her inspiring journey from retail management to a successful career in the automotive industry during the DC20 event. She emphasizes the importance of education, connection, and personal growth, highlighting how supportive environments can empower individuals to thrive. Alison discusses her experiences at the event, the value of networking, and the influence of motivational speakers. Her story showcases the potential for transformation and the significance of surrounding oneself with positive influences in both personal and professional realms.

Topics: career transitions networking personal growth motivation education in automotive supportive environments
Select text to request an explanation
Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee podcast for the DC twenty Unlocked series, brought to you by drive Centric. For more information or to get
signed up for the next DC twenty event, go to drive centric dot com.
Let's prove what's going on car guys in cars Guy and it's fredlin Art's subprime here. Welcome back to another intergroup over here. We are having some
fun and we got a car gal over here. We will help us out
everybody. Let's go ahead and get this shared around. Tag a car Guy,
tag a Cargalt Share share, share, share share share, Let's get this out there. This is our last interview of the whole event, and
of course we wanted to save the best, the absolute best, for the last And I'm so excited to have you on here. I'm so glad that
you were able to break away from these breakout sessions and be able to give us a few moments of your time. I know how valuable time to be,
especially when you're trying to come here to learn some stuff. But I
have a feeling that you're gonna take something from this. I hope, Bro.
We're excited to have you on. I know that you have an amazing
story. Everyone keeps saying, Hey, you need to make sure you get
Alison on there. And I'm so glad that we had a chance to pull
your way to do. Thank you for being brave enough to come on our
show for this is so fun. Kudos to you. Cool. Let us
make welcome everybody. Throw a coffee cup of moji, throw some throw some
welcome into the comments, and help us welcome in for this first time on the card Back Coffee Podcast, The One, the Only Alice. Yeah,
all right, so you're here at DC twenty. Is this your first DC
twenty? First it is? And what do you think about a technology company
that you have plugged into your store opening up the doors for you all to come in and figure out how to maximize the potential of the two of you guys. Okay, first of all, totally amazing. Facility is amazing,
right, seriously, Like I was taking pictures of everything around here and lending them to the bosses be like okay, yeah, so the culture around here is so welcoming and it's so supportive and inspiring. So I'm leaving tonight after
next event and I'm coming away it's fired with five pages of notes in my notebook and ten new phone numbers in my phone, lots of new friends on Instagram, debut podcast. Wow, what an experience, and that's what they
want. They want you all to leave here feeling like you're more than just
a partner to them, your family to them, and they want everyone to feel I love it because they do the three's of experience here and that's what I love. They educate, they are encouraging, and they empower you all
to go back to your stores to be the best that you can be.
And hopefully that spark is enough to set fire at the store to make sure that you go back and just keep it moving and keep you know, putting flame and air onto that fire so it just gets stronger. And I'm excited
for you. I love that you've broke down a lot of notes. I'll
encourage you is that a lot of those notes are going to be hard to trans late overnight. Right. The key is just trickle it out slowly but
surely, and to at least implement one small thing after another. And as
you do it, you'll see that the growth will happen. But never lose
the motivation because it can be easy to put that notebook away. It's easy
to forget that, but I'm excited because I know you're with an auto group that's not like that, so it regulations. Yeah. Yeah, I've come
from a small dealer in the smaller county. A lot of the people that
I've met here this week are big groups, right, They've got five, ten, fifteen stores with many brands. To make those different connections and to
have those different relationships where I come from a small store that has five salespeople, and to be able to take a lot of the big box practices to our small store to help us grow, it is really empowering, really fun because it's excited. You get to walk away with a similar sword that big
sword swingers. Right. Yeah, they're doing all the big things and you
love it. And I'm like, I'm one of the big guys. You
are a big day everybody. Yeah, that's awesome. Speaking of seats at
the table, you had the chance to go up there and hang out with Oh man, my pod so little funny story. I'm in Pot three,
Pot three, Repp three. I talk a lot to Connor and Hannah and
I think I told you guys this, but if not, there are some people that now found out that Hannah is a swiftie. Okay, okay,
so we bonded a little. We're friends and when the movie came out in
October, actually sent Hannah package here, gave her friendship bracelet because you know that. And I met Hannah today and she gave me some friendship bracelets and
that we're friends forever. It's real now real, It's not just virtual.
It's real, folks. This isn't catfish. This is for real. We
know who we are, right, real people, and they care so much.
That's what I love about it. I love it too, And they
care so much and they want to be useful, They want to help.
They actually look forward to being able to help. So I think honestly when
the day goes by that they didn't get to do much they could board.
They want to help as much as possible, makes your day better, makes you feel fulfilled. But having that type of support is crucial. I know.
That's probably a big reason why you guys love Drive Centric because the support is second to none. Has there ever been an experience that you can think
of you personally, where you had to call into support or anything like that and found out how great it was and how it probably was like a refreshing feeling to you, of course, and all the time, and there is many times that I will chat in or call in and they're helping me and I'm like, wait, well I figured it out. I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry. But it's great. Thanks for taking my call. That's
the best thing in the world. And I do that all the time.
All of me start talking like, never mind, know the answers, never mind, But they're so great, They're so responsive, and just to be able to come here and meet them and see where they work is actually a really cool experience. I love that. And the curating of this particular event
is really awesome, which includes the speakers. So we've got some incredible powerhouse
speakers that we honor, we appreciate, we're friends with things. To even
know what stuffed out to you out of what the speakers were bringing, they were bringing some peat. They were bringing some peat. So the one thing
I'm really taking away is they didn't talk a whole lot about like our business, right, They talked about people and how to be kind and how to take care of other people. Yeah, can you imagine And to see these
people, both Glenn and Danell go from nothing to Everything is my jam is my Jam one hundred. I love their background. It's amazing, amazing.
I can't wait to read Glenn's book. I connected with Denell on Instagram.
We were messaging back and forth. So it's just really cool to have those
five people around you that really inspire you to grow. And that's totally what
I got here at DC twenty. Wow, you name two people that inspire
me all the time. It's amazing they are and their story is. It
makes you eliminate a lot of your excuses. Right for sure, I didn't
go through that, and yet I'm gonna okay, I feel you. It's
about who we It's about what we do, not where we came from.
Right. We can always change who we are. We can always reinvent what
we believe that we can. We are looked at as right. So I
think that's great that you see that. Danelle is a great connection for men
and women out there. I'm telling you, she is a powerhouse. She
is a millionaire maker. That is literally her moniker. She does what she
does over twenty three hundred people she's turned into millionaires and it's not and she's not because she shows them how to make how to you know, invest money.
She shows them how to be better people. She shows them how to
look at money differently, how to look at life differently. And when you
can do that, you realize that money will come to you by byproduct by doing all the right things, by working hard, by by being consistent and being an example, but most importantly sharing. A lot of people don't realize
that. Like a lot of times, we do things and we don't want
to brag about Ourselves's not about bragging about ourselves. It's about showing other people
it's possible. That's the thing that people have to learn is that it's not
going on social media say hey, look, how about this beautiful house.
It's no. If you do this, you can have a house like this
too. That's the idea behind it, and that's how you need to view
it. I think that people who look at it as well, they're showing
off or they're probably because they're not willing to put the work in to get that, so they just rather think that someone's showing off and saying say they earn that, and they are actually inspiring me to go after it too.
Glenn has done it for me Danelle has done it for me. Lou has
done it for me. I've seen things that he's done that makes me inspired.
So it's just so many and I get inspired by people we interview all the time because of their history. So I want to dig a little bit
more into let's get away from drive centric person and I love drive centric shout out, love you all, but I want to know more about you.
Tell people what'd you do before you got an automotive. I was a retail
store manager for a large beauty chain for close to ten years and I needed a little bit of a change and actually bought a car from the dealership that I work at now and said they were so nice there. That's awesome.
They were so nice and I knew somebody who worked there, So I applied for an office position over qualified, yeah, and they wanted to talk to me about a sales position and I was like cars, my jam, I don't know cars. And my husband said to me, he's you could sell
twenty eight dollars Muscara, or you could sell a fifty thousand dollars. Talk,
that's right. Sales is about people or good with people. I love
your husband to your husband, Yeah, yeah, I love that. I
think that's great that you gave her that advice so true. That is dead
on sales and sales. Sales and sales. People will buy for me just
because they like and trust you. So I took the interview and they offered
me a sales position, of course, And after a couple of months, the GM of my store said, what's your goal? What do you want
to do? And I was like, I'd like your job because I don't
know how. I didn't know at the time how the business ran. I
didn't know how the auto industry ran. I knew how to run a store,
I didn't know how to do this. So I actually went back to
school. I went to Northwood University online Norwood. Shout out Northwood. I
love them, man, they do some great stuff. Oh wow. I
got my bachelor's in Automotive Marketing and Management. Sure did. And then I
started doing a little bit of F and I in the store, which I love. AFI certified get all the education and training and can. I got
the GM Women Strive to Succeed scholarship with they award women pursuing careers in the auto industry. I got that, and then here I am nine years later
killing it at drive Centric with these guys. Yeah, in life, congratulations.
Yeah, you're still just beginning for you. You're still puppy in this
business. Yeah, I have so much to learn. You've seen a lot
in the last nine years. I have. There's been a lot of changes.
There's been a lot of shifts. There's been a lot of like uncertainty
and sometimes almost too easy, like it was a lot of those things were going on. But yet you're still here, You're still proud. You gotta
on your faces and stuff like this really pumps me up, right, So get you out of the mundane. Every day it's another car deal or this
customer, that customer, whatever. But this really puts it into perspective when
you can talk to other people who do the same things as you do, right, who can give you ideas on how to do your things differently.
So it really does inspire me to grow, Yeah, but also to receive from you. Yeah, because I'm sure that especially listen, we got five
that what tables you sit at, that you're adding value to those that are around you. I hope that wouldn't get that without I hope, which is
so important it was to take away at that time from doing the grind because we that's the one thing we love about car guys and car guys. We
are some workers, we are workforces, but so many times we don't get our handlef wow to figure out what else we can do to make even better.
Oh, you've got that so true. And because of that, it
is refreshing to come be amongst your people because we're very tribal. You will
know that in this industry, we're very tribal. But and you're instantly like
welcomed in because of just the oar guy cark out. What is it that
that you want to make Its communicated to people that might be on the fence about showing up to an event like this. Come. You won't be sorry,
you will make connections, you will make friends, you'll have a good time, and it just gives you a little bit of that mental break that sometimes you need from the grind. Agree, and just to connect. Everybody
here does the same thing, right, We want to take care of people and surround yourself with these people. And you just come back super inspired.
Boom love it. I'm inspired by you. I love your story. Oh
my gosh, Like congratulations for having the fortitude to go get more education too, to show that. I love your general manager for saying, hey,
what do you want to do in this business? And then I love your
gumption to say I want to do what you're doing, you know, and a lot of general managica by that's not as easy as you think. But
he asked that question, you answered it honestly. I think you probably respected
that or she I'm not sure if you can't faciliate. Yeah, So that's
awesome that you have leadership in there that ask that question because a lot of people don't care. I need you to sell cars for me. I don't
care if you have kids, anything. Just make sure you move metal,
please, and then you can go home if you do that. One thing
I do really love about it too, is that my dealership and my leaders that I work with every day are really supportive of like my family. I
have a daughter, she just turned twenty, shout out kind of coastal Carolina, Shanta. Yeah, So to be able to show her that you can
do a lot of things. I was a young mom right so to be
able to show her, even when you don't know what you want to do right away, you find it. Educate yourself surround yourself with the right people,
and you grow. My family is there for me. Those two things,
she said there, educate yourself and surround yourself with great people. You
do those two things, you will have success in your life always, over and over. Congratulations on your daughter. That's amazing Coastal Carolina. Yeah,
what a cool school. My son, he's twenty years old too, anyway.
But that being said, I absolutely I love your story. I love
where you come from. Shout out Norwood again. Man, they do some
really great stuff over there, and I know that they are out there leading the way when it comes to education in our industry. They do a great
thing. There's only one other school I know it does that, and they're
down in Florida and they do a great job too. But man, I
tell you, I've met a lot of people who are current students at that school right now that we're at any DA that came by the booth, and they were phenomenal young people, which is great spirit about them, which lets me know our industry is in good hands in the future. So I'm pumped
up about that. And Edith Centric, thank you all for hosting this event
for us. We've had the best time ever having people like you, Allison
come on the show gets me inspired. That's why I love the show.
I love being a host of the show because I leave so pumped up.
Oh my gosh, I just talked to a lot of amazing people, and you know, let's go after it, and we honor you, and we appreciate you, and honestly, i'd love to invite you to a five liner.
I'd love to learn more of about It's a little it's a little bit longer interview. We learned more about you, more about you. I wanted
to dig deeper into all that stuff. We had another thirty forty minutes,
I'd be digging off just thing. I hear them out there talking like last
giving the last what's going on stuff. The bus is probably getting filled up
right now. But yeah, but I'm so honored that you're here, and
I'm so glad you gave us some of your time, and I'm glad that we saved the best for last month. So much. This was so great,
You're greatpreciate, appreciate you. I appreciate it, and we appreciate those
that are doing the right industry because setting the stage for a good experience for a customer to come in and purchase and be open up the eyes of this gem to our industry. Now, Dingo to be able to see herself,
be able to climb, be able to learn, be able to grow well because she was treated right, had a great experience and to come into the industry that she didn't have any background, but she saw it done right.
Man, that's exactly she didn't even she ain't even gone for sales. And
kudos to Andy forgiving her great advice. Mister husband, that's a good man
right there. Seriously, we need more women just like her. We need
good people just like her in our industry. So, oh, it's real,
it's real. I don't have to regnize. That's honesty right there,
and it is. We definitely real recognize it's real. We recognize you,
so, thank you so much. Yeah, so we want to make sure
that we continue to honor what it is that we've been doing over here at the Drive Centered headquarters. So make sure that you do pass this around,
make sure that you go through all these rights, give some love to each of the destiny so much stream time to let you know that you should be here at the centation. They've given you a little bit of what it is
that's out here, but it just does not compare to being here. Ruven
elbows, hugging necks, such meeting people and learning and going back inspired up fifty pages of notes, all of that good stuff, and you want to make sure that you're getting it. But right now we're going to make sure
that you do leave here, which he forgive focus and why, and we're doing that. We wipe off the way of un forgiveness. We get focused
and then we why. Let's ready to do that together. Count of three,
one two three forgive it. Okay, fly and keep growing, Keep
growing everyone, Thank you so much for tuning in for this interview at d C twenty iras the car guy now throwing our supprime and you've been doing solutions in the car, had coffee podcast with the one the only Ali said Hello, showed everybody the better be at the next DC twenty there be there be square, my friends, assume

Request an Explanation

Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.

Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.

Want to learn more?

Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.

Explore Terms

More from Car Guy Coffee

NCM Event Conversations feat. Chad Graves
Jun 1, 2026
NCM Event Conversations feat. Tim Hayden
Jun 1, 2026
NCM Event Conversations feat. Owen Moon
May 27, 2026
NCM Event Conversations feat. Eric Glass from CallReview
May 27, 2026