At A Glance

Marta Kos, Head of customer care at GymBeam, shares her journey from a Customer care specialist to a leader managing a diverse international team. She emphasizes the importance of effective communication and adaptability in understanding both her team and customers. With a unique perspective shaped by her experiences across different markets, Marta discusses the challenges and strategies involved in providing excellent customer service in a competitive industry, highlighting the significance of soft skills and personalized approaches in building lasting customer relationships.

Who is Marta Kos?

Meet Marta Kos, Head of Customer Care at GymBeam!

About GymBeam

GymBeam is an E-Commerce store focused on health products. While supplements make up their flagship product line, they also offer sport clothes, healthy food and home fitness equipment designed to help people reach their health goals. 

Marta’s CX Journey

Marta Kos, now Head of Customer Care at GymBeam, started her journey in customer service with a frozen food company. “That was my first professional experience,” she recalls, “and from there, I took on roles in private health insurance, moving up from agent to team leader, then manager.” After exploring a stint as a medical representative, Marta found it wasn’t a “pair of shoes” that fit her well, leading her back to customer service.

Just before the pandemic, Marta sought remote work, quickly landing a role with GymBeam, an e-commerce brand based in Slovakia, known across Europe for supplements, sports accessories, and health foods. "When I saw the job description, I just knew I’d get it,” she says, reflecting on her nearly five-year journey. She started as a Customer care agent for GymBeam’s Polish market, then moved up to Team Leader, and now, for over a year, she’s been leading the customer care team from Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. 

What Excites Marta

Marta finds customer care both challenging and rewarding, especially as it allows her to connect directly with customers and gain insights into their needs and experiences. “It’s very exciting because you have a chance to have a connection with customers, and they share feedback with you,” she explains. While acknowledging that the role can be repetitive and often deals with issues rather than praise, she finds the daily learning aspect fulfilling. 

With a product catalog of over 9000 items, there is always something new to learn. 

The CX Team at GymBeam

Operating across 16 countries means GymBeam is constantly hiring, and Marta places a strong emphasis on candidates’ soft skills over industry knowledge. “For me, the most important thing is to have soft skills,” she says, explaining that these abilities help handle repetitive tasks and the high volume of emails and short calls her team faces daily. 

“If you have this energy to talk to people and know how to manage the call—even on the interview—you know how to present yourself. The product knowledge is just the second thing; you can learn that easily during onboarding,” she adds.

CX Team Success Factors

GymBeam’s customer support spans a wide range of communication channels, from emails and phone calls to social media, Facebook, Instagram, and limited chat support, where they’re piloting AI in Slovakia. “We offer support through Telegram for our Ukrainian customers, as they’re very accustomed to this tool,” Marta shares. Support hours are extensive too, running from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in most markets, and even extending into Sundays. “Mondays are our busiest days,” Marta notes, “so offering Sunday support helps balance the workload for our team.”

Marta says that GymBean’s growth journey creates unique challenges for the CX team. "We’re not a startup anymore with almost 700 employees, but we’re not at the top either,” she explains. 

Navigating a Tough Market

The competitive landscape is fierce, especially with a younger customer base that is heavily influenced by social media. She says, “We invest a lot in marketing, participating in major sporting events like MMA in Germany and popular competitions KSW in Poland, which helps us attract new customers while providing them with a memorable experience.” Marta emphasizes the importance of retaining customers through exceptional service, saying, “To offer great customer service, we focus on our daily tasks. We track the performance of our customer care agents almost every day and provide feedback—because feedback is a gift.” This dedication to continuous improvement has resulted in a customer review rating of 4.9 out of 5 in Poland over the past five years. "Our customers are generally very satisfied," she adds, acknowledging that while their team is on the front lines, the main mistakes often occur outside their department.

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

Marta is receptive to AI integration in CX. “We’ve already started implementing AI in our chat systems in the Slovak and Czech markets, which are our biggest markets. We want to test its effectiveness there before expanding it to other departments.” 

While she acknowledges the potential benefits of AI, she remains cautious about over-reliance on technology. “We don’t want our employees to stop thinking or rely too heavily on AI. We already use templates to communicate with customers, which have sped up processes, but we’ve noticed that sometimes people aren’t even reading what they send because they want to respond quickly. That has its drawbacks, too.” Marta envisions a balanced approach, stating, “We’re definitely going to move forward with AI, but I would say it’ll be a 50-50 balance; we won’t be replacing people with artificial intelligence.”

Marta’s Key to Success

Marta emphasizes the critical role of communication in her management approach at GymBeam. “I think communication is the most important in this work because if you talk with your team, you give them the chance to explain the processes or the problems they face. As a manager, you need to understand that you are not the smartest one, and you are not always right.” She acknowledges the diversity within her team, stating, “I have a big variety in the team, which means different nationalities, ages, and genders. It's important to listen to the team and find solutions that can vary for each person.”