IT'S a warm Saturday night. Two men wait near the entrance of Melbourne's Transport nightclub, looking expectantly at every attractive woman who walks past.
''I'm a bit nervous,'' says thirtysomething Max, dressed smartly in stonewash jeans and a leather jacket. ''But I've read the material and done some practice so it should be good.''
Adam, who looks much younger, and wears a short-sleeved shirt, jeans and sneakers, is equally hopeful. The pair are about to meet a professional ''wingwoman'', whose job is to help them meet women.
Wingwomen are the latest twist on the ''wingman'' - a sidekick who helps his mates approach women. The term was popularised by the 1986 movie Top Gun.
Professional wingmen, who are paid to help shy guys approach women in bars and clubs, have been flying around Melbourne nightspots since the late 2000s. But according to Max and Adam, who have both taken private ''dating workshops'' and read seduction manuals, women are growing inured to wingman tactics.
So they have volunteered for The Sunday Age to spend a night with wingwoman ''Kate'' from Melbourne dating school the Modern Man. The service normally costs $597 for two three-hour evenings out on the town.
Kate, a 27-year-old model/counsellor with a psychology degree and a merry English accent, seems ideal for the role.
''I'm going to strike up a conversation with some lovely girl, and then you guys just walk through and I'll introduce you as my friends,'' she says. ''Can we kiss you?'' asks Max. ''I mean, on the cheek … And then maybe if I go for a drink, you can say something like 'This guy is really hot'? That would be really cool.''
Kate laughs and leads the pair into the club. After some reconnaissance, she tilts her chin towards two pretty, fashionable women. ''I'm going in,'' she informs them, like a true squadron leader. ''Adam, you follow in a minute.''
She explains to the women that she's new in town and is wondering where to go dancing. Adam sidles in and Kate introduces him as her friend from uni.
The foursome chat amiably but after a few minutes the ''targets'' exchange a knowing look and say they need to go to the bathroom. It's a promising start, according to Kate. ''The first approaches are just about gaining confidence, getting the numbers up,'' she says. ''We might talk to 20 girls, and maybe two of them will be interested.''
She never discloses who she is, but has no qualms about her role. ''I don't see it as deception … I'm trying to get guys to approach women they actually like. Some wingmen, they tend to be more focused on one-night stands … I see [this] as helping guys improve their confidence so girls like us can find a good one.'' Indeed, Max and Adam say their ultimate goal is to find a ''soulmate'', although Adam says ''it could work as a one-night stand''. Kate says most of her clients get between two and 25 phone numbers during a weekend, and that a former client is now engaged to a woman he met in her workshop in February.
She works as a wingwoman every Friday and Saturday night, and is paid $60 an hour by her agent, Alexandre Marks, founder of the Modern Man agency.
Marks, 31, a self-professed ''former IT nerd'' has a squadron of eight wingwomen working for him in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. About 40 men have used the Melbourne service since it started in February, compared with about 100 men who have opted to hire one of his wingmen.
''It really works - if a woman approaches other women, they will let their defences down,'' he says. ''Some women are becoming very snobbish … they just won't give us the time of day.''
Marks says that the clients are discreetly screened before meeting the wingwomen and believes the public nature of their work makes it safer. ''These blokes are never going to create any trouble because all our workshops are held in public places … And almost all of them are just out to get phone numbers.''
Adam and Max are among them. Adam almost ''converted'' - that is, got a number from - hairdresser Billie, 26, but she was called away by a friend.
She later tells The Sunday Age she wasn't really interested but that Adam ''did seem a lot nicer with that girl as his friend''. So would she mind if she discovered that a new boyfriend had paid a wingwoman to help him meet women? ''No, I wouldn't mind. But it would have to be the right guy.''
Wingwoman tactics
1. Get to know your charge, the kind of woman he's looking for, and his "confidence barriers". Was he teased at school; does he consider himself unattractive or is he simply shy?
2. Create a backstory: how do you know each other? Why are you out tonight?
3. Shooting practice. Approach as many women as possible - regardless of whether he finds them attractive or note.
4. Encourage your guy to try an "opinion opener", in which he engages a woman with a conundrum, such as "My best friend's wife cheated on him, but now he wants to take her back - what do you think?", or "Who do reckon is hotter, David Beckham or Brad Pitt?" Another tactic is the "high five": if a girl looks friendly and has a sense of humour, give her a cheesy high five and ask her how her night's going.
5. Once the technique is honed and he feels confident, target women he is attracted to. If the target is willing, try a gentle touch on the small of the back, but nowhere lower, or higher.
6. Don't stay in the battle-zone too long, and encourage your charge to "close" after 10 minutes or so by taking out his phone; the woman should then offer to put her phone number into it. NEVER ask directly if you can help it for a phone number; it's just not very alpha-male.
7. Take up space. Women like alpha men: you should stand tall with your legs apart, but don't tower over her or stand too close either.
