I realise that this isn't quite the answer you were looking for, but perhaps trying to explain to the client that the number of inbound links isn't the best way to keep track of what you're doing? I know that personally I used to keep track of all the links I was building but after a while I realised it was a bit pointless, the only things that I really care about are conversions (and money coming in), and then traffic and number of terms driving that traffic (I try and keep things simple).
Might make your life a bit easier if you're not reliant on a third party number to keep him happy and you can show the end result of all your work is conversions, traffic, rankings etc?
Otherwise as mentioned above, I'd take a look at Majestic to show the numbers going up.