Gareth Herschel, research director at Gartner Inc, says: "There are two things to focus on to ensure CRM success. One is the notion that you are never done with CRM. Things are constantly evolving. The second notion is that it takes 18-24 months to change and reinforce the behavior of end users with new CRM software."
UPDATE: Link fixed: http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid11_gci1252855,00.html
I agree completely that CRM (or in our case, AMS) mangement is never done. Databases evolve, the technology evolves, and the demands of our customers (both internal and external) evolve.
I think the 18-24 month adoption period is perhaps a bit long for most associations, given their relatively small staff sizes. Most associations have 50 staff or fewer; if you can't get adoption from that size organization in under two years, I think you have other issues.