I did a radio interview the other day about how Barack Obama kept asking his future wife for a date until she said ‘yes’. In his case persistence paid off. The issues are how often should you ask and many times.

Men need to read the signs that say she’s maybe interested or she’s not. Women have 52 come-on signals and, while I’m not going to list them here, touch is one of the classics. Guys, if she touches you it means you’re OK and the more she touches the more OK you are. If she doesn’t touch it usually means that she’s not interested in you at all.

As for how often, the answer is not to pester her. If you repeatedly ask in a short space of time, you’re come across as being desperate. And nobody wants to be involves with someone who is desperate.

So let’s say you should ask no more than five times and leave a gap of a few days between each time you ask.